The Book of Exodus tells us to remove leaven, chametz in Hebrew, from our house so that the featured — and unrivaled — star of Passover week will be matzah, the traditional unleavened flatbread. The ancient rabbis defined chametz as anything made from one of five types of grain (wheat, barley, oats, spelt, and rye) that is allowed to ferment. (Matzah and matzah flour are made from these same grains but are not allowed to ferment or rise.)
The Torah says that not only shouldn’t we eat chametz, we shouldn’t even see it in our house! So it’s traditional to do a thorough housecleaning before Passover, a variation on the spring cleaning theme, to get rid of our chametz. This might mean cleaning out closets and cabinets, cleaning under the washing machine and behind the refrigerator, wiping down bookshelves and furniture, and even deep-cleaning the car because, well, crumbs can get anywhere (especially with kids around).
Follow along for more about Passover dietary rules, a fun chametz-hunting activity, story suggestions, and more.
Learn
In medieval times, Ashkenazi rabbis (who established practices for Jews throughout central and eastern Europe) were concerned that other foods — rice, corn, millet, and certain legumes like beans, peas, lentils, and peanuts — would be confused with the five traditional grains, so they added these additional items, called kitniyot, to the definition of chametz.
Sephardi Jews (of Spanish descent) and Mizrahi Jews (of Middle Eastern and North African descent) eat kitniyot during Passover, and some members of liberal Jewish denominations are also more lenient on the eating of kitniyot.
Do
Whatever your pre-Passover cleaning practice, there’s a custom your kids will love: “the search for chametz” (bedikat chametz in Hebrew). It’s an ancient custom that anyone can try, performed when it gets dark or just before kids’ bedtimes on the night before Passover.
Supplies:
- leftover bread
- roll of aluminum foil
- candle, flashlight, or headlamp
- feather (if you have one)
- wooden spoon
- paper bag
Instructions:
- When the kids aren’t around, tear off five to ten small pieces of bread and wrap each piece in foil. Hide each piece in its own spot in the dining room, living room, or another room. (You might want to write down the hiding spots so that you don’t forget any!)
- Gather your family. If you like, say this blessing before your hunt begins: “Dear God, Creator of our world, thank You for giving us rules that make our lives special and for teaching us to remove leaven (chametz) from our house.”
- Darken the room where the bread pieces are hidden. Use the candle or flashlight to search. You can offer clues as needed. And if you’re using a candle, make sure it doesn’t drip. Aluminum foil can help here too.
- Each time the kids find a piece, have them use the feather to “sweep” it onto the spoon. Have them deliver the piece, still on the spoon, to the bag, which is held by an adult collector.
- When all the pieces have been found and delivered, say this traditional passage: “If there is any chametz in our possession that we haven’t found or removed or that we aren’t aware of, it’s now to be considered like the dust of the earth.”
- On the following morning, you can take these bread pieces outside to dispose of them. If you’d like to engage in another ancient tradition, you can burn them outside in a miniature bonfire (or, in a more modern twist, on a grill); this act is called bi’ur chametz, the burning of the chametz. (Learn more about this practice in the Chasing Joha Through Passover episode of our podcast, Beyond the Bookcase).
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