Tikkun America RESTORE Magazine Issue 20 Nisan | April 2023 | Page 12

Spring Cleaning

KATHLEEN RANTZ
“ Get rid of the old hametz , so that you can be a new batch of dough , because in reality you are unleavened . For our Pesach lamb , the Messiah , has been sacrificed . So let us celebrate the Seder not with leftover hametz , the hametz of wickedness and evil , but with the matzah of purity and truth .” 1 Corinthians 5:7 – 8 CJB
Have you ever wondered where the term ‘ spring cleaning ’ comes from ?
Some say that it comes from the Jewish tradition of cleaning our homes out just before Pesach ( Passover ). One of the ways we prepare for this holiday is to go through our homes , cleaning them from top to bottom to ensure we get all the hametz ( leaven ) out so that we can celebrate Pesach in our homes and with our families .
Now you might be saying , “ leaven applies to yeast , right ?” Yes , it does ! But it ’ s not just the food in our cupboards containing yeast that we dispose of . Yeast is also in those little crumbs we leave behind all year long , you know , the ones that fall behind appliances and into our furniture . For this reason , we must clean every nook and cranny out in our homes to get every spec of yeast out .
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