Passover Cleaning - Not Just Spring Cleaning
This is the season for cleaning more than the house
If you are Jewish and traditionally observant, you are very, very aware of Passover cleaning. And if you have Jewish friends, you’ve probably heard about it. What it is and how it is different from spring cleaning is the basis of today’s article.
As I explained in last week’s children’s article, Jews eat matzah and other special foods on Passover. A complex combination of laws and traditions define what different groups follow which laws. What is universal among Jews, however, is the necessity for special Passover cleaning. Here’s a superficial look at the whats and the whys.
Laws Forbidding Bread on Passover
Exodus 12 recounts that shortly before the Israelites left Egypt, God told them to kill a lamb and paint the doorposts of their house with its blood. The blood on the doorframe let the Angel of Death know that, when carrying out the Tenth Plague of killing first-born males, he must pass over those homes.
After slaughtering the lambs and marking their doors, the Israelites were then to cook the lamb and make a meal with the lamb, unleavened matzah, and bitter herbs. Then Exodus 12:14-15 continues, “This day shall be to you one of remembrance: you shall celebrate it as a festival to G-d throughout the ages; you shall celebrate it as an institution for all time. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; on the very first day you shall remove leaven from your houses, for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day to the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.”[i]
According to Jewish law, we must stop eating all leavened foods—chametz in Hebrew—mid-morning[ii] on the morning before Passover.[iii] Since Jewish days begin at evening, this means that this year (2024), when Passover begins on the evening of April 22 or 15th of Nissan, we must finish our last chametz by a certain time (we will be informed of this by our community) on the morning of April 22, or the 14th of Nissan.
Most liberal Jews are not concerned with Jewish laws, so while they will eat matzah at the Seder meal, they may eat their regular diets the rest of the holiday. But traditional Jews take these laws very, very seriously.
Leavening
The word “leaven” is actually an incomplete translation of the Hebrew wordחמץ (chametz), which has the additional meaning of “fermentation.” It is in this sense that chametz is used in regards to Passover.
Fermentation is accomplished by yeasts, a fungus found everywhere in the world. “They can be found on most plants, floating around in the air and in soils across the globe. There are 250 or so of these yeast species that can convert sugar into carbon dioxide and alcohol – valuable properties that humans have used for millennia. Twenty-four of these make foods that actually taste good,”[iv] according to an article for people learning to bake. One of these yeasts is used to make bread.
When wet grain mixes with yeast, it begins to ferment after 18 minutes. To avoid fermentation, Passover matzah is made in a process that takes only 18 minutes. Passover lasts for seven days in Israel and eight days outside of the land. During that time, nothing made from the five species of grains traditionally grown in the Holy Land (wheat, barley, oats, rye, and spelt) can be eaten.
Baking powder and baking soda use a different method to raise baked goods. Baking soda causes raising by reacting to acid in the food; baking powder is baking soda with added dry acid; it responds to liquid in the food.[v] Neither causes fermentation so they are allowed on the holiday—but not with grain flours.
Matzah Products
If you look at the Jewish food section in a large supermarket around Passover, you will probably see two kinds of matzah. Passover matzah—those suitable for the Passover seder service/meal—are made of flour and water only. They can be hard to digest. In the USA and maybe other countries, some boxes of matzah look identical to Passover matzah but say “not for Passover use.” This is because these matzahs are made during the year on equipment that may contain traces of chametz. The commercial kitchens where matzah and other Passover products are made are meticulously cleaned and inspected before any runs of Passover foods are made. Passover foods are marked “kosher for Passover” or have a special code on the package label.
Egg matzah are made with the addition of egg, making them softer and easier on the gut. According to Jewish law they cannot be used during the seder.
Once grain is baked, it no longer ferments, so using crushed or powdered matzah is permitted, according to many accepted Jewish traditions. Matzah meal, crushed matzah, is used by many Jewish cooks instead of breadcrumbs throughout the year. Powdered matzah is called cake meal and is used for Passover sponge cake and other more delicate pastries. Roughly crushed matzah is called matzah farfel. It is often eaten instead of breakfast cereal, scrambled with eggs to create the breakfast treat “matzah brei” (the Passover substitute for French toast), and used in place of oatmeal in recipes.
The famed “matzo balls” are made with matzah meal. I’ve included my matzo ball recipe at the end for any adventurous souls. Personally, for year-round use I prefer them to flour dumplings, which in my self-taught experience tend to have a slimy surface.
Some Jews call foods made with matzah products “gebrokts,” a Yiddish[vi] word for food made with matzah products and liquids. They avoid all these foods because of a concern that possibly some flour remains in the matzah meal or cake meal that could ferment. This kind of diet is “non-gebrokts.”
Selling Chametz
Besides getting rid of open packages of grain products, many people sell their chametz. When we do this, we separate any chametz products either by wrapping them or moving them in a closed box or bag out of their normal location. Then we contract with a non-Jewish person who technically purchases our chametz, but stores it in our homes. Any chametz sold must be accessible to the purchaser if he desires it. As the owner, he can do whatever he wants with it, including use it up.
Usually our rabbis handle these sales. Sometimes we sell via the Internet with an accepted organization. When I lived in Idaho and had no local rabbi, this is how I sold my chametz. After the holiday we purchase the chametz back.
Cleaning for Passover
With all these concerns about foods, it becomes very important to remove all flour, flour products, and anything made with fermentation out of the home—or to sell it to a non-Jew. This means that the kitchen and other parts of the home where food might be eaten need to be cleaned scrupulously. Knobs are removed from kitchen ranges, for example, and cleaned with toothbrushes. Jars of spices and other packaged goods are wiped down.
Many women use the necessity to do Passover cleaning to do a very thorough spring cleaning. My next-door-neighbor does not permit food in the bedrooms. However, she uses this time to sort through her children’s clothing, removing things that are too small or too worn and throwing them away or donating them; getting rid of toys missing important parts; and storing away things that might be used by a younger child but are not needed now.
There’s a joke: Passover cleaning helps people understand the seriousness of Passover. Women comprehend what it means to be a slave (trying to get the home absolutely spotless) while men understand the exodus and wandering in the desert (because the furious cleaning can make home inhospitable for a week or two).
Spring cleaning, as performed by most non-Jews or non-Orthodox-Jews I have known, consists of thorough cleaning of the house—but not details, such as removing handles from the kitchen range or swabbing out the refrigerator and freezer gaskets, considered important by those following the Torah laws. Someone doing spring cleaning is more likely to wash the curtains and windows, items that might be skipped by someone who is going through the toy box to remove any trace of cheerio dust. The purpose of the cleaning is different, so the details are different.
Fermentation in the Heart
There’s actually a deeper spiritual significance to Passover cleaning, to ridding our homes of any leavened foods. What is different about leavened food from unleavened is it swells. Spiritual examples of swelling are boastfulness and pride. When we rid our homes of chametz, we are tasked with ridding ourselves of the chametz of boastfulness and pride as well.
Another aspect of fermentation is that it makes things sour. Sour pickles and sauerkraut are perhaps the two most common examples. In addition to meditating on the ways in which we inflate ourselves, many people also look at our relationship to sourness.
Life is never easy. Each of us have experiences that cause us concern or upset. These things ferment inside of us, bubbling up as anger, crass language, and other bad behaviors. But this fermentation creates neither bread nor beer; it creates—superficially at least—more problems. So it is another aspect of our behavior that we should be removing.
I remember from before I started following Jewish law that a good spring cleaning gives the cleaner a great feeling of satisfaction. There is something about spring and all the new growth that speaks to every heart about new beginnings. Having a very clean home fits into this seasonal reality and provides its own spiritual lift. But the feeling of renewal that I get when I have been cleaning my soul as well as my home is much greater than the satisfaction I had when I was “just” cleaning the house.
Preparation for Receiving the Torah
We leave the slavery of Egypt on the first night of Passover and start the journey to freedom. During our seder service we read the story and reenact the first Passover feast, eating unleavened bread and bitter herbs. By the seder night we will hopefully have done enough introspection to have become aware of ways in which we have been bloated and swollen; but also ways in which we have become soured.
We need to remove these aspects of our selves, because in one week we will be walking across the Red Sea with Moses and the Israelites, and in just six more weeks we, like our ancestors, will receive the Torah at Mt. Sinai. This happens on the holy day of Shavuoth, or Weeks—seven weeks from our Exodus. And on Shavuoth, we are reminded that our souls, the souls of every Jewish person ever born (or converted) stood at Sinai and heard God speak the first of the Ten Commandments.
Hopefully, because of our spiritual work during these seven weeks, plus our preparation in the weeks leading up to Passover, our souls will be clean, ready to hear and accept God’s laws again.
Matzo Balls
Recipe from The Complete American-Jewish Cookbook, London & Bishov, The World Publishing Company, 1952, adapted by Hanna Geshelin.
4 eggs, beaten
½ cup water
1/3 cup cooking oil (I use olive oil)
½ tsp. dried parsley (optional)
1 tsp. salt
Dash of pepper
1 cup matzo meal
Combine eggs with water, oil, parsley, salt and pepper. Mix well. Add matzo meal and stir thoroughly. Let stand 20-30 minutes. Form into walnut-size balls and drop into boiling soup or into 1.5 quarts of boiling water to which 1 Tbsp. salt has been added. Do not crowd them as they will swell.
Simmer in covered pan for 40 minutes for light matzo balls.* (For the cannonball matzo balls beloved by many traditionalists, cook only 20 minutes, but be sure your dental insurance is paid up.) Serves 6-8.
*Opening the lid while cooking does not hurt these, unlike flour dumplings.
[i] Exodus, 12:14-15, translation from Sefaria.org, https://www.sefaria.org/Exodus.12?lang=bi&aliyot=0 , accessed March 31, 2024.
[ii] This time depends on the length of daylight on that particular date and at that particular place; members of each Jewish community will be informed of the time. (No one ever said the Jewish calendar was simple.)
[iii] Shurpin, Y., What is Chametz (Chometz)? Chabad.org, https://www.chabad.org/holidays/passover/pesach_cdo/aid/1742/jewish/What-Is-Chametz.htm, accessed April 1, 2024.
[iv] Miller, J., What every new baker should know about the yeast around us, Colorado State University College News, May 11, 2020, https://source.colostate.edu/what-every-new-baker-should-know-about-the-yeast-all-around-us/#:~:text=They%20can%20be%20found%20on,humans%20have%20used%20for%20millennia., accessed April 1, 2024.
[v] Tessier, A.P., Baking Powder vs. Baking Soda: What’s the Difference? Thepioneerwoman.com, https://www.thepioneerwoman.com/food-cooking/cooking-tips-tutorials/a35366252/baking-powder-vs-baking-soda/, Published Feb. 5, 2021, accessed April 1, 2024.
[vi] Yiddish is the language that was spoken by Jews living in eastern Europe for millenia. Based on Hebrew and written in Hebrew letters, it includes German words as well as words from other eastern European languages of the peoples among whom the Jews lived.
I finally understand the difference between gebroks and non gebroks! And more! Thank you Hanna for this enlightening article!