Getting Ready for Pesach

These two weeks in the month of Nissan prior to Pesach are a time of preparation. Here are some ways you can prepare for a liberating Pesach for yourself and others:

*Clean out your chametz – foods made from the 5 grains: wheat, barley, spelt, rye, and oats. You can donate food, give it to neighbours or formally sell it on line (while it is hidden out of sight in your home). Examples of foods include: beer, biscuits, bran, brewers yeast (nutritional yeast), cake, cereals , cookies, crackers, dough, drinks from grains (chico), instant quaker oats, macaroni, malt, noodles, oatmeal, puffed wheat, semolina, snack bars (that contain one of the five grains), soup nuts, spaghetti, wafers, wheat germ, whisky, and yeast extracts.

*Clean out closet chametz – Donate clothes, jackets, boots and other household items that you don’t need that others would benefit from.

*Clean out spiritual chametz – Our Sages understood spiritual chametz as arrogance/parts of ourselves that are inflated and misaligned with truth. This is an ideal time to reflect on what may be inflated within and to set goals for transforming the inner chametz into inner matzah – characterized by simplicity, humility and alignment with truth.

*Let all who are hungry come and eat – At our Seders we invite those who are hungry to be fed. This is an ideal time to donate food to foodbanks and to support UJA’s Global Seder and National Council of Jewish Women’s Passover Food Drive.

*Work for the liberation of others – This is an ideal time to support the work of liberation in our present global context. What is a source of contemporary oppression you wish to take a greater role in eliminating? Let Pesach spark new and renewed commitments to ending oppression and easing suffering.

*Learn and Explore! – There are countless wonderful resources on line to make Pesach and the Seders meaningful. Here are 2: https://www.haggadot.com/clip-search and myjewishlearning.com. Our Sages instruct us to begin learning 30 days before a holyday to arrive with fresh insights, questions and inspiration!

*Join us at the DJC’s Second Night Seder – Register here.

Chag same’ach!