We are forbidden not only to eat chometz, but to permit it to be 'seen' or 'found' in our homes. Every home should, therefore, be thoroughly cleaned during the week before Passover. All closets, cabinets, cupboards, and all other places where one suspects the existence of chometz should be thoroughly inspected. Even the pockets of clothing should be searched.

The final or formal search, called "Bedikat Chometz", is conducted on Tuesday, April 18th directly after nightfall. This must be a real search for chometz. However, since we assume the house has been thoroughly cleaned, crumbs of bread are placed in each room so that the blessing pronounced before the search may not be said in vain. This blessing can be found at the beginning of your Haggadah.

The head of the house, his way lighted by a candle carried by a member of the household (the candle must have a single wick), proceeds from room to room with a feather that serves as a brush. Any chometz found is gathered together with the wood, feather and candle, completely wrapped in a cloth and bound with string. This chometz is to be burned the following morning.

It is then necessary to formally renounce ownership of any undisclosed chometz in one's possession. This formula is known as "Kol Chamira" and may be recited in any language. "AII leaven or anything leavened which is in my possession, which I have neither seen or removed and about which I am unaware, shall be considered naught and ownerless as the dust of the earth."

All chometz not destroyed must be given as a gift or sold to a non-Jew prior Wednesday, April 19th at 11:43. The Rabbi is appointed as an agent by the owner of the chometz, to sell it to a non-Jew. This procedure is true sale in accordance with Talmudic and secular law. All chometz that is sold to a non-Jew must be stored in a place where no one can reach it. Any person who cannot appear before the Rabbi in person to appoint him as their agent to sell chometz may use the "Chometz Sale Form" found in this bulletin and submit it to the office.

To commemorate the fact that the first born of Israel were spared the fate of the Egyptians, who were smitten with the Tenth Plague, it became compulsory for the first born of each Jewish family to fast on the day preceding Passover. Participation in the services, however, means exemption from the fast. Services for the first born will take place on Wednesday, April 19th at the morning services at 6:45 A.M. & 8:00 A.M.

The most important part of the Sedar is the matzoh we eat. Matzoh means unleavened bread, and because it contains only flour and water, it is called the "bread of affliction"; referring to the bread which our people ate in Egypt. The word 'shmura', which means "watched" in Hebrew, is used to describe the matzohs, because the wheat used in their baking is carefully watched and protected against any contact with water from the moment of harvest on. Water could cause leavening and thus disqualify its use on Passover. In ordinary matzoh, the wheat is watched only from the time of milling or kneading. Another difference between shmura matzoh and ordinary matzoh is that shmura matzoh is watched and produced with the intention that it be used for the mitzvah of eating matzoh. This is known as "lishmo", which means for the sake of the mitzvah. To fulfil the mitzvah of eating matzoh, one should eat a piece equivalent in size to 4x5 inches. Try that no more than four minutes elapse from beginning to end. For the Sedar, one should try to have shmura matzoh. If it is difficult to obtain three shmura matzohs, an effort should be made that at least the middle matzoh should be shmura.

In order to prepare food on Yom Tov which falls out on Friday for Shabbat, a special procedure is performed prior to Yom Tov (this Passover Wednesday, April 19). A piece of matzoh and cooked food (fish, meat or egg) are taken in hand and the following blessing is recited:"Baruch ata Adonay Elohaynu melech haolam asher Kiddishanu b'mitzvotav v'izivanu al mitzvat eruv." This is followed by the following declaration: "Through this eruv may we be permitted to bake, cook, insulate, kindle a flame,and do anything necessary on the Festival for the sake of the Sabbath." The piece of matzoh and the cooked food are then set aside and are customarily eaten on the Sabbath.

Since we are not permitted to have any trace of leaven in our food during Passover, special attention must be given to: dishes and utensils. It is, of course, best to use dishes and utensils specifically set aside for Passover use. However, under certain conditions, some of the utensils used throughout the year may also be used on Passover. They must be kashered or prepared in a special manner for Passover use.

• Pots which were used for chometz should not be kashered. If one must use such a pot or pan and has a question on how to kasher it, the Rabbi should be consulted.
• Utensils made from plastic, melmac, Pyrex, Duralex, Corelle, Corningware or any other synthetic cannot be kashered.
• Bone handled knives or utensils covered with enamel should be kashered.
• China, earthenware or pottery cannot be kashered. Also it is not always true that a dish or set of dishes which has not been used for a year for chometz may be used for Passover. A Rabbi must be consulted in this situation.
• Glassware which has been used for cold food may be kashered for Passover by immersing it in water for 72 hours and changing the water every 24 hours.
• Silverware utensils should not be used for 24 hours before kashering. The utensils should first be thoroughly scoured and scraped, and then completely immersed in a vessel filled with boiling water. The boiling must then continue as long as the utensil is in the water. You may kasher any number of utensils at the same time as long as each one is completely surrounded by the boiling water. After removal from the boiling water, the utensils should be washed in cold water.
• Kiddish cups should be scrubbed and rinsed before Passover. If they were used for 'schnapps', the procedure described for silverware must be used.
• Shelves, counter tops and eating services should be thoroughly cleaned and covered with non - porous material.
• Sinks metal sinks may be kashered by first cleaning them out and then pouring water into them. The faucets and spouts are also kashered by pouring boiling water over them. The hot water faucet should be left running for a few minutes to its strongest flow.
• Cooking ranges the surface area of the cooking range must be thoroughly cleaned and covered. The grates are kashered by holding them in the fire for approximately 10 minutes. On an electric range, it sufficient to open the range until the coils turn red.
• Ovens should be thoroughly cleaned with "Easy off " or the like. It should then be turned to its highest setting for an hour. A pan of water should be placed into the oven during this time three times. The racks upon which food is placed must be covered with aluminium foil. A self-cleaning oven is kashered by turning it on to its cleaning cycle. A microwave oven is kashered by cleaning it out and then placing a utensil filled with steaming water in it.

Upon the conclusion of the Passover festival, there is an understandable rush to the nearest bakery to purchase bread. Every family is urged to purchase bread at rabbinically approved bakeries, because:

* Bread available immediately after Passover was baked during the festival and is forbidden.

 

* Bread prepared by commercial firms, especially the white sandwich type, generally use animal shortening and lard, rendering it treifah.

The seven week span between the beginning of Passover and Shavout is known as "Sefirah", or the "days of the omer". Sefirah literally means counting. In the days of the Temple, our people celebrated the beginning of the winter harvest by bringing an omer, a measure of barley, on the second day of Passover as an offering of thanksgiving. From that day, they counted seven weeks, celebrating Shavuot on the fiftieth day.

After the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, the practice of counting the forty-nine days carried over into our Ma'ariv iiturgy commencing on the second evening of Passover. Thus the period between Passover and Shavuot is designated as "the days of the counting of the omer", or simply "Sefirah". Because of the tragic events which occurred in the Jewish history, in the Passover - Shavuot season, particularly during the time of Rabbi Akiva and the Bar Kochba revolt, Sefirah has come to be considered a time of mourning. In this doleful spirit, weddings, music, dancing and hair cutting are not permitted during this period of time except on the festive days of Rosh Chodesh and Lag B' omer (the thirty-third day of the counting of the omer).

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