Shaking Out The Hametz

B"H

Shavua Tov – A Good Deed For This Week

3/30/2007 – Parshat Tzav (Leviticus 6:1-8:36)

Note: We include the citation for the Weekly Torah portion, which may or may not be linked to this week’s Good Deed. We invite your response, comments and suggestions.

Note: All of the Shavua Tov postings are available on our newly designed website: www.etzhayim.org Please note there the simple NO-COST ways you can support Etz Hayim by using Goodsearch and IGive.

Implementing Judaism:

SHAKING OUT THE HAMETZ

PHYSICAL PREPARATION FOR THE SEDER

Its Roots:

If Passover is a festival of Freedom, why does the preparation for it require so much labor? One answer is provided in the Book of Exodus (13:6-8): “Seven days you shall eat no unleavened bread, on the seventh day there shall be a festival of the Lord. Throughout the seven days unleavened bread shall be eaten; no unleavened bread shall be found with you, and no leaven shall be found in all your territory. And you shall explain to your child on that day, ‘It is because of what the Lord did for me when I went free from Egypt.’” There it is – not only are we commanded not to eat leavened bread, but to rid all of our property of any leavening. Spring cleaning on a grand scale.

A quick definition of hametz: anything made from the five major grains (wheat, rye, barley, oats and spelt) that has not been completely cooked within 18 minutes after coming into contact with water.

Your Paths To Action:

You may be familiar with the spring rituals of bringing up the Passover dishes cleaning all the counters, searching for hametz with feather and candle, covering all of the counters and finally selling the hametz. All of this is part of the physical preparation for Passover – getting rid of the hametz.

Make this a family adventure: http://www.jewishfamily.com/text/hunting_for_hametz.txt This site can help you have a family discussion as well as a lot of fun.

One last question for your consideration. Do you think hametz is only physical? Some of our sages suggest that hametz is whatever puffs us up. That could refer to the yeast that makes our bread rise, but it could also refer to the pride that makes our ego rise. For those sages there was a clear link between the physical and the spiritual work of the holiday. How do you understand the link between the physical and spiritual work of getting rid of hametz for Passover?

Shavua Tov – May you have a good week.