Pesach Home Rituals

Pesach (Passover) is, without a doubt, one of the most widely observed if indeed not the most widely observed holiday on the Jewish calendar. Pesach begins on the fifteenth of the month of Nissan and continues for seven days (eight if you live outside of Israel). Pesach, perhaps more than any other Jewish holiday is concentrated in the home, where many of Pesach’s most beloved and central rituals take place.

Weeks before Pesach, we begin to prepare by cleaning our homes of all chametz, leavened products. We are forbidden from possessing any chametz at all during the whole of Pesach. On the night of the fourteenth of Nissan, we do a special search for chametz, which is often done by candlelight to ensure that we have managed to find and get rid of every last crumb. Some have the custom of hiding ten crumbs of chametz throughout the house to be found during this search in order that the search for chametz may take place in a home that has already been thoroughly and scrupulously cleaned for Pesach. It is critical to write down where each of the crumbs is located in the event that they aren’t all found during the search. Once the search has been completed and any remaining chametz has been gathered, we recite a declaration by which we nullify any chametz that has not been found. You may say this declaration in any language you wish. The English translation of it is as follows:

“All chametz and leaven that is in my possession which I have neither seen nor destroyed and which I do not know about shall be null and void and ownerless as the dust of the earth”.

The morning of the fourteenth, we take the remaining chametz and burn it.

In addition to scrupulously cleaning our homes, we must also kasher our kitchens especially for Pesach. Many people, instead of kashering all of their dishes, will buy a set for use exclusively on Pesach.

Undoubtedly one of Judaism’s most observed and beloved home-based rituals is the Seder, the festive meal held on the first two nights of Pesach outside of Israel and the first night only in Israel. The word Seder is derived from the Hebrew word meaning order and denotes the fact that the Seder has a very specific ritual order to it, consisting of fifteen distinct components. It is during the Seder that we fulfill one of Pesach’s most central mitzvot which is found explicitly in the Torah (Exodus 13:8) to tell the story of our Exodus from Egypt.

The text used at the Seder is called the Haggadah, which is derived from the Hebrew root meaning to tell. The text of the Haggadah was codified over many centuries and in our own time, many have taken it upon themselves to build upon the text, adding in supplementary readings or passages to make their experience of the Seder all the more meaningful and relevant. While many prefer to stick solely to the traditional text, the flowering of ritual and liturgical creativity around the Haggadah means that today, one can find Haggadot of every type imaginable, from very traditional to secular humanist, from those with a feminist bent to those with a mystical orientation. There are children’s’ haggadot, haggadot with a particular political bent, haggadot targeted towards interfaith gatherings and those with little background, the variety is seemingly endless!

In addition to the plethora of haggadot available, over the past several years, new ritual objects have been incorporated into the Pesach Seder in some segments of the Jewish community, though these are by no means universal. One of these is the placement of a Miriam’s Cup on the table to compliment the Cup of Elijah. This cup is most often filled with water, reminiscent of Miriam’s well. The Miriam’s Cup is a symbol denoting the important role played by Miriam specifically and women generally in the Exodus specifically and Jewish history generally.