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Here is a wonderful article on cleaning not only our homes of chametz (leaven) but searching our hearts for leaven (representing sin in our life) as well!!
Spring Cleaning - Passover Style
- by Jane Diffenderfer
This year I am really looking forward to spring cleaning in preparation for Passover. I just love getting rid of all the clutter we accumulate over the fall and winter seasons. Getting rid of everything that hinders us in maintaining an orderly home is so freeing to me. I love to see tidy rooms, spacious closets, organized drawers, and orderly cupboards. I usually only have the time to really get to the bottom of things during this dormant time of the year and there is such satisfaction in a job well done. It takes me at least a month from Purim to Passover to accomplish this goal and I have a zest for it this year. I hope you are anticipating the preparation for Passover as much as I am. Here are some helpful hints to get you started. As keepers of the home, we women have a huge responsibility during this season. Our husbands and children are relying on us to help them fulfill the commandments for the feast of Unleavened Bread. What we are to do can be found in the following Torah passages: “Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel” (Exodus 12:14,15). “And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; ... therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even. Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land. Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread” (Exodus 12:17-29). “ Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days; and there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters” (Exodus 13:6,7).
So we are instructed to eat unleavened bread and to put away all leaven from our houses and property. Sounds easy and so it is - if we take the time to prepare. To clean out the leaven we need to define what we are searching for. Leaven is whatever ingredients are used to cause bread to rise. The primary items are: yeast, baking soda, baking powder, and sour dough starter. Some orthodox Jews also remove beans and lentils because they “rise” when water is added to them. In our household we keep the beans and throw out the baking items. January and February are not good months of the year for us to stock up on bulk baking products. What we do not use in time before Passover will have to be thrown away and burned. Some folks sell their chametz (leaven) to Gentile neighbors and then buy it back after the week of Unleavened Bread. I am not sure how ethical this is considering that YHWH will cut that soul off from the congregation of Israel. Last year we put the yeast into a Rubbermaid storage container and saved it by putting it on the vacant lot next door. We will not do this again. Sin (leaven) is to removed from our lives and destroyed. If we reclaim it we lose the value of the object lesson. YHWH has us doing these peculiar things, Passover and Unleavened Bread, for the eternal value of teaching our children His truths.
This is the perfect time to thoroughly clean house. As you clean your home, also take inventory of your heart, mind, soul, body, and spirit. You probably will find some purging that needs to be done within your temple as well. It is a good opportunity to search for the spiritual leaven Yahshua warned us of, which is hypocrisy. “Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known. Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops” (Luke 12:1-3). Therefore, if you complain while cleaning the closets someday we will all know about it! J. Seriously, we need to examine our hearts to see if we are walking in the truth. “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves” (2 Cor. 13:5). This internal cleaning is an important aspect of the preparation for Passover. “But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world” (1 Cor. 11:28-32). Do we preach kindness and patience and then turn around and lose our temper and speak harshly to our children? Do we tell other women to honor their husbands and then belittle our own? Do we believe husbands are to be the spiritual head of the home and then complain to our friends about why men are not as spiritually in tuned as we are? Do we recognize the evil in the feministic agenda of other women and then spend our time in interests that take our attention away from our homes and families? Are we women of faith, dedication, and prayer or have we fallen into doubt, slander, and accusation? If any of these questions pricked your heart, do not despair dear sister; for no temptation has seized you except that which is common to us all. I too have been chastened by YHWH for all of the above. Time and time again I have had to fall on my face in tears of repentance and ask YHWH for His grace and power to live the life I know I should. I cannot do it on my own, but through Messiah Yahshua all things are possible. It is vital that we, as wives and mothers who fear YHWH, practice what we preach. Homeschooling moms have many pairs of little eyes watching every movement, every sigh, every shrug of the shoulders, and every wave of the eyes. There are little ears who hear every idle word and listen to every subtle tone in our voices. If you have found any of this leaven in your own life - be of good courage and confess your sin and trust YHWH to forgive you. Continue to wait on Him to cleanse you. Don’t stop at the confession, but repent and change, ask YHWH to thoroughly cleanse away every evil root. We cannot, in our own strength, rid ourselves of the sin that so easily besets us but with YHWH’s help we are more than conquerors through Messiah Yahshua. He is faithful to complete the good work within us if we cry out to Him. Halleluyah!
Back to house cleaning, it is good to start in the children's rooms. Together, with the children, search for any physical leaven, cracker crumbs, bread, etc. Also search for any spiritual leaven that needs to be thrown away. Have your convictions changed since last year as you have grown in the knowledge of YHWH’s holiness? A toy, book, or article of clothing that may have seemed acceptable last year may be next to abominable to you this year. Clean it out. Your children do not need anything that would hinder them in their pursuit of the kingdom of righteousness. If you have any doubt, throw it out (or at least box it up and consult your husband). Please do not over spiritualize this; owls in picture books do not represent demons. Sometimes our children have purer hearts than us in these matters. They may see something in a video or book that we have overlooked. Please consult them and have them participate in the cleaning process as well. Perhaps your children have accumulated too many possessions to care for. If that is the case, ask your children which items they would like to give to their friends or to the community help center. Our children enjoy doing this and the added benefit is less tidying up to do at bedtime. Be sure to vacuum under and in everything, including windowsills, furniture, and heat vents. More than once we have found a portion of a peanut butter sandwich or a graham cracker in the heat vents or under a chair cushion. When their rooms are clean post a sign on their doors saying “Inspected for Passover”. This should help remind the children not to eat in these rooms and to keep things in order until the holy days.
Follow the same procedure for all the rooms in your home. If you have a garage, barn or other out buildings, don’t forget to inspect them too. If you buy pet food check to see if it has leaven in it. If so, search out another brand for the week of unleavened bread and begin weaning your pet to it early. Another hidden chametz item may be your brand of toothpaste; check to see if it has baking soda in it. As soon as these rooms are clean, post the “ Inspected for Passover” signs on the doors. Keep all eating in the kitchen and dining area so you will not have to go through this again before Passover.
The last place I clean is the kitchen. Anywhere a bread crumb could have tumbled needs to be thoroughly cleaned. The silverware drawers, cupboards, toasters, dishwasher, ovens, refrigerators, and freezers as well as the food pantry are all suspect. When hunting for leaven you will have to read the labels of just about everything. Yeast extract seems to pop up in the ingredient lists of many canned food items that you would not suspect of having chametz in them. Once you identify the leavened items, isolate them from the rest of your food. If just after Purim you rearrange your food cupboard so that only one shelf contains the items with chametz you will have less to do the night before Passover. You can then take inventory of what needs to be eaten up before the holy days.
When you have finished house cleaning be sure to empty the vacuum cleaner bag and take all trash to the dump or burn it. Some orthodox families go the additional mile of storing away all dishes and cookware that they usually use and replace these with special Passover dishes and utensils that have never had a crumb of chametz upon them. This seems like a neat idea and in doing so it would make these holy days seem extra set apart. At this time our family has not been led to go to all this extra effort (and expense) but I can appreciate the reason for the custom.
Part of the instructions for Unleavened Bread is to *eat* unleavened bread. In the weeks before Passover begin stocking up on “Kosher for Passover” items. You can buy matzah or learn to make unleavened bread. If you purchase wine for the seder it needs to be “Kosher for Passover”. Other wines contain some form of yeast. Festive meals need to be planned and seder items purchased. Think ahead. To help eliminate stress, make lists to help organize your thoughts. It took us several years before we could remember and understand all the steps we needed to take to prepare our home for Passover. Please, if this is new to you, have grace upon yourself. For the first few years of celebrating Passover we did a seder and neglected the week of Unleavened Bread altogether. We were just learning and Unleavened Bread didn’ t fit in too well with hot crossed buns (to say nothing of the traditional ham dinner with chocolate eggs for dessert). As time went on YHWH taught us His dietary instructions and then we were able to incorporate Unleavened Bread into our lifestyle and to forsake the worldly celebration of a pagan goddess, whose name I’ll not mention.
It is probably physically beneficial to have one week out of the year where our bodies are free of yeast. We know it is spiritually beneficial to honor Yahshua as the Bread of Life, unleavened and without sin who was brought forth from the earth (tomb) during this special season. Every day we can remember His body that was bruised and pierced for us as we eat the striped matzah. What a wonderful memorial this feast is! Enjoy this time and be creative, matzah pizza and cinnamon matzah toast are something our children look forward to each year. We also eat a lot of pasta, rice, and corn tortillas (flour tortillas contain chametz) during Unleavened Bread. Desserts for the feast are even more challenging. Try the delicious Cocoa Coconut Macaroons in the recipe below. The Holy Day of the First Fruits of the barley harvest is during this week. It is a good time to try barley-lentil stew or to make barley cakes. Barley cannot be affected by leaven. What a picture of Yahshua.
On the late afternoon of Nisan 13 you can do a fun traditional game of searching for the leaven. Mom hides 12 - 1” squares of yeast bread (sins of Israel) around the living room for the little ones to find. (Remember where they are!) With Dad’s help and the light of a candle the children search to find the bread . When the offending objects of chametz (sin) are found by the light (of YHWH’s Word - Torah) they are scooped up with a white feather (by the Holy Spirit - Ruach Ha Kodesh) onto a wooden spoon (tree of Yahshua’s suffering) and then deposited into a paper bag. When all the pieces of bread have been collected then take them outside and burn them. Once this symbolic act of removing the leaven is complete you are ready to celebrate Passover. It was on this night nearly 2000 years ago that Yahshua broke the matzah and took the cup after the supper... For us it is a memorial to the Exodus from the bondage of Egypt and to the deliverance that His broken body and shed blood has purchased for us.
For more articles by Jane Diffenderfer please visit Messianic Home
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