Preparing Ourselves for Passover

For years I've loved the pre-Passover series, #blogExodus and #Exodusgram, that the Bima Ima, aka Phyllis Sommer, blogs and teaches about. That's because she reminds us that there is a lot of mental, emotional, spiritual efforts needed for us to prepare for Passover. We shouldn't think that the chametz is just in the kitchen or the house.

Here is her 5778, 2018 #blogExodus and #Exodusgram.

Today is already the 2nd of the Jewish Month of Nisan. That means that we must catch up. We have to Begin the process and Bless Gd and all that we have.

I look forward to these blog posts every year. The Bima Ima's blog used to be updated almost daily, but now it hibernates most of the time. And as Purim rolls around I start getting anxious and wonder if she'll resume posting in time for Nisan. Thank Gd, the Bima Ima is back blogging.

Begin- Here in Shiloh, we began the Month of Nisan with a special Kiddush after blessing the fruit blossoms, Birkat Ha'Ilanot, which show that Gd is giving us fruit from/via the trees. In our neighborhood we go to neighbors who have a lot of fruit trees in the yard, and some still have flowers.

Bless- I wish to bless my family, community and friends near and far that they have good health and enjoy the gifts that Gd has given us. It is truly a blessing, when we know how to see the good in our lives.

Shavua Tov, Chodesh Tov

BlogExodus Topics 2018/5778
1 Nisan - Begin
2 Nisan - Bless
3 Nisan - Cleanse
4 Nisan - Grow
5 Nisan - Hide
6 Nisan - Tell
7 Nisan - Ask
8 Nisan - Rise
9 Nisan - Thank
10 Nisan - Join
11 Nisan - Celebrate
12 Nisan - Find
13 Nisan - Welcome
14 Nisan - Praise

3 1/2 Weeks to Pesach

It seems like Passover is always on my mind. I look at my house and can't imagine how I'm going to get it ready. OK, yes, I certainly know the drill. Not every room really needs to be considering as harboring hidden chametz. We don't eat chametz all over the house. But since my house is a real mess, I do need to clean up, at least once a year.

Here's the freezer. We are trying to empty it. We ate some defrosted rolls for our Shushan Purim Seudah, festive meal. I gave my daughter all the flour a couple of weeks ago. She bakes; I don't. I wonder what treasures I will find while trying to empty it.

It may sound funny to hear this, but truth is that getting the kitchen ready for Passover is easier than cleaning the rest of the house. We have too much unnecessary unused junk including books. I'm in charge of the kitchen, and I've been getting rid of things, old useless pots, a bunch of my books and cd's. One of my children had needed tablecloths, so I gave him a nice supply. It's shocking how many I don't use at all. 

Anyone who wants any of the books here can just take them. I've gotten rid of quite a few. In the process of going over them I found old family recipes my kids had been hoping to discover. So I sent over all the files.

I've been having trouble with my hip, so I won't be able to do the usual cleaning in the other rooms. But I'll try to throw more things out, Gd willing. In a sense, that's what chametz is. The increase in possessions we have but don't need is very much like how yeast makes the dough rise. We shouldn't be slaves to our possessions. We need to unshackle ourselves and be free.

Lots of Legitimate Kosher for Passover Customs/Psak/Laws Part 1

Note that I didn't use the word "choice" in my title here. As many people know, I'm in the midst of planning a new kitchen. We never made a change or even major repair in the kitchen we built as part of our house almost thirty-five years ago. We've changed the major appliances, but that's it. We probably should have done work, like major repairs, on the plumbing, but we didn't.

Some of you may be wondering why I'm writing about something as mundane as a kitchen on Shiloh Musings. Isn't that more a topic for A Jewish Grandmother? Yes and No. When it comes to the logistics, aesthetics, planning, appliances and things like that, yes, I'll be blogging a lot on A Jewish Grandmother. But a Jewish kitchen isn't just about style and even convenience. There is a lot of halacha, Jewish Law involved when planning a kitchen and choosing materials and even appliances.

Once my friends, in real time and the internet, facebook and blogging, heard that I was going to totally redo/renovate my kitchen the advice began flooding in. In almost all cases, I was told to get "X," because it would make Passover cleaning easier. And, inevitably, the recommended type of appliance or sink or countertop that can be kashered more easily for Passover is more expensive.

In Torah aka Orthodox Judaism we follow our rabbinic instructions/decisions/customs etc. Not all Orthodox rabbinic instructions/decisions/customs are the same, especially when it comes to Passover. There's a major difference between the instructions/decisions/customs of Ashkenaz (European) Jewry and the Sefardi (North African) Jews. And even within Sefardi Jews there's a big difference between, Yemenite, Moroccan and Tunisian etc including which cities the family had lived in.

It's not just a matter of who eats rice and/or lentils.

In general, Ashkenaz psak, decisions and procedures are strictest and most difficult. We are Ashkenazim, so we change and cover pretty much everything. We always had Passover sets of silverware, dishes, pots etc, so I never found myself learning how to kasher anything for Passover. Just take it out of storage.

Now I keep hearing that I must get a stainless steel sink, because it can be kashered for Passover. I may get one, but since I may have the chance to get a good regular one much more cheaply, then since I already have Passover sink bowls, I may decide to save the money. Renovations always entail extra expenses. We also need to buy new lighting fixtures, and now my husband is talking of changing the livingroom windows...

Countertops are another major issue. We have always completely covered our countertops. It's no big deal for me. Certainly in this stage of life I don't see the point in spending extra money and then have to pour boiling water over everything, which has safety and other risks.

When I say "this stage of life," I'm reminding you that the one week Passover Holiday is no longer a time of major cooking and entertaining for us. Our daughter, may she and her family live and be well, has taken over the big family Passover Seder and most other family entertaining/hosting. Our new kitchen must be suitable for two senior citizens, which is a topic for  A Jewish Grandmother.

What do you think?

Pre-Passover Rant

Let's start with the basic and true that I'm an awful housekeeper, always was and I guess I'll always be one.

my kitchen in Passover mode

this is chametz

A lot of what's accepted as "cleaning for Passover" has absolutely nothing to do with ridding the house of the forbidden Chametz.

Chametz is any food product made from wheat, barley, rye, oats or spelt that has come into contact with water and been allowed to ferment and "rise.”
In practice, just about anything made from these grains—other than Passover matzah, which is carefully controlled to avoid leavening—is to be considered chametz. This includes flour (even before it is mixed with water1), cake, cookies, pasta, breads and items that have chametz as an ingredient, like malt. (Chabad)

And a lot of products that proudly and sometimes more expensively display "Kosher for Passover" labels and certification have absolutely nothing to do with chametz at all, no matter how and where it's produced. I'm happy to have found this list, NON-FOOD ITEMS – 2016, OU Kosher Staff:

The consensus of the OU’s poskim (rabbinic authorities) is that the following may be used on Passover without certification:

Aluminum foil

Aluminum foil baking pans

Baby ointments

Bags (paper or plastic)

Body wash

Bowl and tub cleaners

Candles

Cardboard

Carpet cleaners

Charcoal

Conditioners

Copper and metal cleaners  

Cork 

Cosmetics (except possibly lipsticks, see below)

Cupcake holders

Cups (paper, plastic or styrofoam)

Deodorants

Detergents

Dishwashing Detergents

Drain openers

Fabric protectors

Furniture polish

Glass cleaners

Hair gels, sprays and mousse 

Hair removers and treatments

Insecticides 

Isopropyl alcohol

Jewelry polish

Laundry detergents

Lotions

Napkins (paper)

Oven cleaners 

Paper towels

Perfumes

Plastic containers

Plates (paper, plastic or styrofoam)

Scouring pads and powders

Shampoos

Shaving cream and gel

Shaving lotion 

Silver polish 

Skin cream  

Soaps 

Suntan lotion

Talcum powder (100% talc)

Toilet bowl cleaner

Water filters

And to tell the truth, since I've never allowed eating in bedrooms, meaning no breakfast in bed, and my kids (and their friends) even at the youngest ages did not wander the house eating cookies, crackers, etc. there never is any actual chametz in the bedrooms. I clean what I can, but my real focus is on the kitchen. And as I wrote on my blog, A Jewish Grandmother,  Tolerance, Acceptance, Pesach Can Be Complicated.

I pray for good health and good humor. Let's not go crazy and make ourselves sick and forget that Passover is a holiday which shouldn't be tortuous.

Chag Pesach Kasher v'Sameach!

Have a Happy and Kosher Passover!

For a Good Jewish Theological Discussion, You Need Hebrew!

Last night I had a very frustrating time at our monthly Shabbat Mevorchim Melava Malka, Post Shabbat study and nosh event, that we've been having on the Saturday nights after the Shabbat when the upcoming new Jewish Month has been announced in shul.

The rabbi who led it conducted a discussion, not a lecture, which he began by summarizing the story Chazal (our sages) say that before birth we have all the knowledge possible about Torah and Judaism, but as we're being born an angel kisses us and seals it or removes it. Then he asked us for our personal opinions about Passover and חרות Cherut, Freedom. Yes, he defined it as "freedom." Now that bothered me a lot. By defining חרות Cherut as Freedom, he was giving חרות Cherut  a meaning, which it may not really have.

Israel's old Right newspaper had been called חרות

Most of the participants were of the generation raised and came to age in the late 1960's, when "freedom" had all sorts of political connotations, and they tried to get those to mesh with Passover. I felt that the discussion was totally off-track, because I wanted it to be based on the linguistic meaning in Hebrew of חרות, but I guess I was in the minority on this.

I don't see any "freedom" in the way we celebrate and prepare for Passover. Actually it's the opposite. The way most of us prepare is so anti-Freedom, so pathologically OCD, it drives people from religion.

That's why I insisted on getting to the root of חרות. That brought me to what to me is the most crucial and important line in the entire Passover Hagaddah:

עבדים היינו לפרעה במצרים עתה עתה בני חורין
Avodim hayinu liparoh bamitzrayim; atta bnai chorinWe were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt ; now we are "free?"

It's the statement that expresses opposite status. "Avodim liparoh bamitzrayim" versus "bnai chorin." which is commonly translated as "slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt" versus "free." Pretty much everybody stresses the "slavery" part and then gives the opposite of slavery as freedom, but I keep thinking, yes for years, that the crucial aspect of this is not the economic slavery but the fact that we had to obey the whims of the Egyptian leader and the opposite "bnai chorin" would mean that we now must obey Gd.

This would take the entire story someplace else and not at all to "freedom" as commonly depicted. This brings us to the Torah and Gd's commandments. It makes more sense and then all the kitchen cleaning and special ways of cooking mean that instead of the readily available food (chametz) given to the Jewish slaves by Pharaoh, we Jews have to rid ourselves and our homes of that and eat the food Gd commands us to eat and prepare. In the Wilderness when transitioning between slavery in Egypt and building a new Jewish society in the HolyLand, after we prepared the quick matzot, spelled like Mitzvot, Gd gave us the mahn.

Passover is not a matter of slavery versus freedom at all! Passover is the transition from following man's law to following G'd's Laws.

It took me a whole night of sleep for this to jell or "leaven." What do you think?

Here's the Atara Snowbell response to the question:  Guest Post by Atara Snowbell on חרות Herut

Passover aka Pesach Wars and Battles

Please don't get me wrong.  I haven't mixed up Pesach with Chanukah or even Purim.  The "wars and battles" I'm referring to are in a very different sphere, or spheres. 

• One aspect is the emotional and physical violence many of us find ourselves in when attempting to clean, prepare for the Passover Holiday.
• Another war or battle is the competition many well-meaning Jews participate in as they search for and adopt stringencies which had never been accepted by a majority of poskim, experts in Jewish Law.

I must admit that I have been a victim and following that even the abuser in the battle to prepare my home for Passover.  Cleaning isn't my greatest homemaking talent.  So once it comes to this time of year, between Purim and Passover my stress levels rise, and as a young mother I was completely incapable of making Passover preparation fun.

To this day I'm incredulous when friends tell me that the clean as a form of relaxation, that they feel joy when scrubbing.



I don't even think it would help if I had the cheerful "whistle while you work" blasting throughout the house.  Getting the house ready for Pesach makes me feel more like the rabbit in Alice in Wonderland.



I do appreciate that some rabbis make some efforts to "calm things down" and claim that the kitchen is all that needs to be done, and it can be done in a short period of time.  Rav Aviner is known for his "quick cleaning" headlines, but if you read his site, it shows practical, useful and Halachik tips.

The OU has published an article with a similar message.  There is lots more common sense being heard in some circles, which is good. 

We don't have to go to war against dirt, and we don't have to destroy expensive electrical appliances by taking them apart.

The second battle field is the one of the chumra, the extra strictness.  Frequently those chumrot  only make the holiday a living Hell for the family.  So, if those customs aren't part of your family history, then why invite trouble into the house?

And considering that we're very close to Pesach and Shabbat is in a few short hours, let this post suffice for now.