Holiday

Looking for some insights or new rituals for an upcoming holiday? Here we post practical, easy to use guidelines for the holy days, both Jewish and American, that mark the way stations along the circle of the year.

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The tradition is so ancient: scouring the property for any residue of last year’s crops, washing, burning the past year away. But our boxes of untouched Quaker Oats and Girl Scout Cookies need not be burned. Instead, we load all of our chametz into the car and head for the food pantry. There is real joy when spaghetti and frozen waffles can be distributed to those who need them. Our neighbors get our opened sour cream and salad dressings—they know we are in the Passover frame of mind and are glad to help us out. In the process of liberating ourselves from the literal and symbolic chametz of the past year, we become agents of gemilut hasadim, acts of goodness and caring.

Meditation

With chametz still in our home, we cannot be truly ready for the Festival of Freedom. As we remove the chametz in a loving way, may we experience the possibility of freedom for ourselves and for others.

Ritual:

Take all foods in closed containers that are traditionally not eaten on Passover and bring them to the nearest food pantry of shelter. Find neighbors who might appreciate the last remains of your open containers and refrigerated foods. Explain that you are about to celebrate the Festival of Freedom, and that this is part of your "soul preparation."

Blessing:

(after you have distributed the foods)

All leaven in my possession, whether I have seen it or not, whether I have removed it or not, is hereby nullified and ownerless as the dust of the earth.

Teaching:

Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; on the very first day you shall remove leaven from your houses… (Exodus 12: 15)

In preparation for Passover, traditional Jews totally eliminate chametz—not just bread but any and all forms of leaven—from the house and the diet. This is a symbolic statement of cutting off from the old slave existence and entering the new condition of living as a free person. The decisive break with previous diet is the outward expression of the internal break with slavery and dependence. For the modern celebrant, it is a critical step in the process of liberation that finally leads to freedom. (Yitz Greenberg, The Jewish Way)

(CLAL Faculty)

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