April 22-30 2024
A PEEK AT THE PARSHIOT
On Pesach, the Torah is read every day, but only parts of parshiot, not entire ones. On the 1st day, we read - from Parshat Bo - about the bringing of the Korban Pesach in Egypt, and Makat Bechorot
On the 2nd day, we read - from Parshat Emor - a list of the holidays on the Jewish calendar, the mitzvah of Sefirat Ha’Omer, the 49-day count to Shavuot which begins on the second night of Pesach, and the mitzvah to journey to the Beit Hamikdash on Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot.
On the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th days (Chol Hamo’ed), we read - from Parshat Bo - about the mitzvot of
CHAMETZ FOR SALE!
CHAMETZ FOR SALE!
On Pesach, not only can’t we eat chametz, we can’t even own it! So what do we do with all the chametz in our homes? One thing we do is sell it to someone who isn’t Jewish. We don’t sell it ourselves. We give permission to a rabbi to sell it for us. And since the rabbi doesn't know exactly how much the chametz is worth, he sells it for a dollar as a down payment, and a�er Pesach, if the buyer wants the chametz, they can nego�ate a price. Usually, the buyer ends up selling it back to the rabbi for that same dollar. If you haven’t sold your chametz yet, go to the KJ website and fill out a form. Or email permission to your rabbi to sell your chametz. Make sure to include the addresses of all the places you might have chametz (homes, school, office).
Pidyon HaBen (redeeming the firstborn male in a family), not eating chametz and eating Matzah on Pesach, telling one's children the story of Yitzi’at Mitzrayim, and wearing Tefillin. Then - from Parshat Mishpatim - we read about the holidays. Then - from Parshat Ki Tissa - we read about Moshe getting the 2nd Luchot (Tablets), and the 13 attributes of God (“13 are the ways in which God is good!” from Echad Mi Yodea!), and the laws of the holidays, including Shabbat (on the Shabbat of Chol Hamo’ed). Then - from Parshat B’ha’alotcha - we read about the 2nd Pesach, celebrated 30 days after the 1st Pesach, by those who weren’t able to bring the Korban Pesach the first time because they weren’t pure.
On the 7th day of Pesach, we read - from Parshat Beshalach - the story of Kri’at Yam Suf (the splitting of the sea), and on the 8th day, we read - from Parshat Re’eh - the cycle of holidays again and the korbanot that are sacrificed in the Beit Hamikdash.
TIMES (in NY) -
Bedikat Chametz : Sunday after 8:18pm
Stop eating chametz : Monday 10:38am
Bi’ur Chametz : Monday by 11:46am
SEDER STATS
1. Echad Mi Yodea, Who Knows 1…113
2. Matzot, Pesach-Matzah-Maror…3
3. Cups of wine, Words of Redemption, Sons, Mah Nishtana Questions…4
4. Plagues in Egypt…10 or 40 or 50
5. Plagues at the Red Sea…50 or 200 or 250
DID YOU FIND…?
On the night before Pesach, you will go on an unusual treasure hunt, where the hunt is the treasure, and we get rid of what we find. Bedikat Chametz is the final act of preparing our homes for Pesach. We put pieces of bread around our homes, say a bracha, and using the searching set that Ramaz provided, search and make sure there is no chametz anywhere. Then we renounce our ownership of any chametz that we didn’t find. In the morning, we burn what we found and renounce our ownership again just to be doubly sure. If you are going away for Pesach, and you won’t be home the night before Pesach, do the search the night before you leave without a bracha and then do a search with a bracha at your des�na�on on the night before Pesach.
PRE-PESACH CHECKLIST
Cleaned my room and made sure there was no chametz
Asked my family if I could help prepare our home for the Seder
Prepared a Dvar Torah for the Seder
Did Bedikat Chametz
Did Bi’ur Chametz
Got dressed up for the Seder
(from
1. What about the Seder are you most excited about?
2. What was the holiest moment of the past year for you?
3. If Matzah could talk, what would it say? If Maror could talk, what would it say?
4. If you had to leave your home for good, what 3 things would you take?
5. What would be a terrible plague for you?
the Hearing Your Own Voice Haggadah)