Bedikat Hametz - The Search For Leaven

After the house has been thoroughly cleaned, it is the traditional practice to make a final ceremonial search for whatever hametz may remain. The search, called Bedikat Hametz, is usually conducted on the evening of the day preceding Passover, and the hametz is burned on the following morning. This year, Bedikat Hametz is conducted on Thursday evening, April 17th, and the hametz is burned on Friday morning, April 18th. Before the search, it is customary to deposit small pieces of bread in strategic places, so that the inspection has a purpose. Traditionally, the search is carried out by the light of a candle, with a feather and a wooden spoon to collect the hametz.

Siyum for the First-Born

The day before Passover is observed as a fast day for the first-born males in each family. The object of this fast is to remind them that the first-born of the Israelites escaped the doom visited upon the first-born of the Egyptians on the midnight of the first Passover.

However, if the first-born participates in a mitzvah, he may take part in the feast which accompanies it, and need no longer fast. Such a mitzvah is a siyum, or conclusion of a portion of Talmudic literature. This year, the special service for the first-born will take place on Thursday, April 17th, following the morning service.

All first-born males and their fathers are invited to attend. The services and siyum are meaningful for all parents and children, first-born or not.

Kashering of Utensils

1. Earthenware (china, pottery, etc.) may not be kashered. Fine translucent china which has not been used for a year may be used if scoured and cleaned in hot water.
2. Metal (i.e., wholly of metal) utensils used in fire (spit, broiler) must first be thoroughly scrubbed and cleaned and completely immersed in boiling water. Pots should have water boil in them which will overflow the rim. The utensils may not be used for 24 hours between cleaning and the immersion in boiling water. Metal baking utensils cannot be kashered.
3. Ovens and Ranges: Every part that comes in contact with food must be thoroughly scrubbed and cleaned. The oven and range should be heated as hot as possible for 30 minutes. If there is a broil setting, use that. Self-cleaning ovens should be scrubbed and cleaned and then put through the self-cleaning cycle. Continuous cleaning ovens must be kashered in the same manner as regular ovens. Microwave ovens that do not cook the food by means of heat (convection) should be cleaned, a cup of water placed inside, and the oven turned on until the water evaporates. A microwave that has a browning element (convection) cannot be kashered for Passover.
4. Glassware: One way to kasher drinking utensils is to soak them in water for 3 days, changing the water every 24 hours. Another method is to thoroughly scrub before Passover, or put them through a dishwasher cycle.
5. Dishwasher: After not using the machine for 24 hours, a full cycle with detergent should be run.
6. Electrical Appliances: If the parts that come in contact with hametz are detachable, they can be kashered (e.g., if metal, follow the rules for metal utensils). If the parts are not detachable, the appliance cannot be kashered. All exposed parts should be thoroughly cleaned.
7. Tables, Closets, and Counters: If used with hametz they should be thoroughly cleaned and covered.
8. Kitchen Sink: A metal sink can be kashered by thoroughly cleaning and then pouring boiling water over it. A porcelain sink should be cleaned and a sink rack used. If dishes are to be soaked in a porcelain sink, a basin must be used.
9. Hametz and non-Passover Utensils: Non-Passover dishes, pots, and hametz whose ownership has been transferred, should be separated, locked up or covered, and marked in order to prevent accidental use.

Prohibited Foods

Prohibited foods include the following: leavened bread, cakes, biscuits, crackers, cereal, coffees containing cereal derivatives, wheat, barley, oats, spelt, rye, and all liquids containing ingredients made from grain alcohol. Most Ashkenazic authorities have added the following foods (kitniyot): rice, corn, millet, and legumes (beans and peas; string beans, however, are permitted). Peanuts and peanut oil are permitted. Some Ashkenazic authorities forbid the use of legumes in a form other than their natural state, corn sweeteners, corn oil or soy oil. Sephardic authorities permit the use of all of the above.

Permitted Foods

1. The following foods require no Kosher for Passover labels if purchased prior to Passover: unopened packages or containers of coffee without cereal derivatives, sugar, pure tea, salt (not iodized), pepper, natural spices, frozen fruit juices with no additives, frozen (uncooked) vegetables, milk, butter, cottage cheese, cream cheese, ripened cheeses such as cheddar, muenster, and Camembert, frozen (uncooked) fruit containing no additives, and baking soda.
2. The following foods require no kosher for Passover labels if purchased prior to or during Passover: fresh fruits and vegetables, eggs, fresh fish and fresh meats.
3. The following foods must have a kosher for Passover label if purchased prior to or during Passover: All baked products (matzoh, cakes, matzoh flour, farfel, matzoh meal) and any products containing matzoh, canned or bottled fruit juices, canned tuna (only if it is known that the tuna is packed exclusively in water, without any additional additives or ingredients, may it be purchased without a kosher for Passover label), wine, vinegar, liquor, oils, dried fruits, candy, chocolate flavored milk, ice cream, yogurt and soda.
4. The following canned, bottled or frozen (processed) foods must have a kosher for Passover label if purchased during Passover: milk, butter, juices, vegetables, fruit, milk products, spices, coffee, tea, fish, as well as all those products in paragraph III.

Detergents

If permitted during the year, powdered and liquid detergents do not require a kosher for Passover label.

Medicine

Since hametz binders are used in many pills, the following guidelines should be followed: If the medicine is for life sustaining therapy, it may be used during Passover. Capsules are preferable.

My teacher, the late Abraham Joshua Heschel, once said that Judaism must be caught, not taught. By that he meant that religious loyalty and observance are the consequence primarily of emotional convictions, not just cognitive insights. We are constantly bombarded by countless stimuli which add to our knowledge of the world; but what ultimately affects our behavior is the whole constellation of experiences throughout our life which have assigned strong emotional value to certain instructions while others fall on deaf ears.

I always tell conversion students that I can teach them all the facts they need to know about Judaism; but I can’t give them Jewish memories. I can instruct a person on how to light candles on Friday evening, for example; however, I can’t transmit the emotional attachment that a Jewish person feels toward such rituals as a result of
watching his mother and grandmother do this from the time he was a child. I indicate to my students that they have to be patient with themselves. Many Jewish rituals will seem strange and artificial at first; but the longer you do them the more attached you become to them and the more they become a natural component of your behavioral routine. Converts have to create their own memories over time. Conversely,
Franz Rosenzweig, the eminent philosopher, flirted with the idea of converting to Christianity as a young man; because he had come to the conclusion that Judaism lacked emotional depth and the capacity to touch the soul. Even though Judaism might be more rational and logical, that wasn’t enough for Rosenzweig. He needed and wanted a religion that had intensity and a sense of engagement. It was only when he became convinced that Judaism could also reach the depths of the human heart and soul that he decided to remain Jewish. That fateful resolution was reached, not by rational argumentation but emotional experience.

I recall as a student in college that we often had “bull sessions” in the dorm about whether God existed. Not infrequently, on the basis of the epistemological criteria we mastered in our philosophy classes, we succeeded in “disproving” the existence of a Supreme Deity. Then immediately thereafter we would pause to daven minha and maariv. Logically that may not make sense. If there is no God, why should we pray? Clearly our emotional loyalties at the time superseded our rational conclusions. Subconsciously, our belief in God was obviously a lot deeper than our superficial arguments as “smart-alecky” college students who thought they knew everything.

Norman Podhoretz has written a fascinating new book entitled Why Are Jews Liberals? In it he argues that from a rational point of view, Jews should now become conservatives in this country; because their self-interest lies in fostering causes and personalities on the Right which, he maintains, are increasingly philo-Semitic. Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with his conclusions, Rabbi David Wolpe, who participated in a Commentary Magazine symposium, is correct in saying that “kinship is stronger than any ideology.” Emotionally, Jews will always feel a lot more comfortable making common cause with people on the margins than the Daughters of the American Revolution. In other words, in spite of all the arguments advanced in political debates, it is ultimately an emotional attachment with the underdog that proves decisive for the preponderance of American Jews. J.H. Bradley put it this way: philosophy is ultimately “the finding of bad reasons for what we believe on instinct.”

Recognizing that emotion trumps reason every time is very important in our effort to inculcate values in young people. Thus, when a teenage couple is in the back seat of a car, whether they have sex or not, or unprotected sex or not, will not be based solely on maxims learned in the classroom or health risk reports. Those teenagers will ultimately decide on the basis of sub-conscious and communal attitudes absorbed over a lifetime. A whole web of previous interactions with friends, family and the world-at-large will determine whether sex is a no-go zone or not.

In the last analysis, our success in influencing behavior depends on our getting human nature right. That is the case whether you’re dealing with teenagers or trying to solve the problems of the Middle East. Heschel was right. Not only in the realm of religion, but in regard to every significant dimension of our lives, values must not only be taught; they must also be caught.