Including the Forms for Selling Hametz And

A PASSOVER PREPARATION GUIDE,

INCLUDING THE FORMS FOR SELLING HAMETZ AND

GIVING MAOT HITTIM....

FOR THE MEMBERS OF BETH HILLEL SYNAGOGUE

PASSOVER 2016 – 5776

Rabbi Gary L. Atkins

Shalom Congregants:

Passover is a holiday that should maximize our identification both with our people and our heritage. It is also a holiday with both a maximum of both family traditions and traditional legal requirements for its fulfillment. This special insert thus provides a Passover guide to assist you in your preparations for the holiday. Please call me with any questions you may have. It is through following these traditions that the holiday provides its special meaning to us.

Note that people may have traditions or feelings about a specific area of observance. That is well and good; and people are welcome to be "stricter" than necessary if they so choose. However, the positions given in the guide represent the teachings of the Conservative movement in this area, as I interpret and believe in them.

I specially invite you to carry out the mitzvot of "mechirat hametz" - selling your hametz and making a donation for Maot Hittim, special tsedakah to allow everyone in our Jewish world to observe the requirements for Pesach.

Hag HaPesach Sameach v'Kasher – A Joyous and Kosher Pesach!

THE SEARCH FOR HAMETZ

The night before the first Seder we search for, and symbolically eliminate from the house, all remaining leavening. We do our searching at nightfall. This is an especially effective and enjoyable activity and example of religious belief for one's children. Carry out the search on Thursday evening, April 21. You will find this ritual presented at the beginning of many haggadot. In case you don't have one handy, stop by the synagogue and we'll give you one!

THE BURNING (OR DISPOSAL) OF HAMETZ

The container of hametz, gathered the evening before, is burned or disposed of early in the morning of the next day, Friday, April 22.

Even as one performs the ceremony of searching for and burning the hametz, the remaining hametz in one's home, including the utensils used for hametz, should not be one's property during Passover. The practice of selling one's hametz and hametz utensils, to a non-Jew, for the period of Passover, is most appropriate. Use the contract in this bulletin or see Rabbi Atkins personally.

FAST OF THE FIRST-BORN

Because the first-born of the Israelites were spared when the first-born of the Egyptians were killed by the tenth plague brought upon Egypt, all first-born Jewish males fast on Erev Pesach. If, however, one attends a Seudat Mitzvah (a feast that accompanies the performance of a religious duty), one is not required to fast. It is, therefore, customary in all synagogues that a siyyum (conclusion of a book of Jewish study) follow the morning Shaharit service this day. The conclusion of a book of Jewish study is an occasion of rejoicing and is followed by a small meal symbolically demonstrating this exemption. Today some first-born women are taking this obligation upon themselves as well. Rabbi Atkins encourages this action and invites first-born women as well to the Taanit Bechorim service Friday, April 22, at 6:45AM.

PASSOVER FOOD, DISHES AND UTENSILS

FORBIDDEN FOR USE - The following foods are forbidden for use during Pesach: leavened breads, cakes, biscuits and crackers, cereals, coffee substitutes derived from cereals, all products made from wheat, barley, oats, dry peas and dry beans (unless there is appropriate supervision) and all liquids which contain ingredients or flavors made from grain alcohol.

There is a disagreement on rice, soybeans, and dry beans, called “kitniyot.” Some authorities permit, others do not. Within the Ashkenazic community, they (and their derivatives) are traditionally not eaten; within the Sephardic they are. My personal position is "I'hakayl,” to be "lenient" and to allow them. This position is ruled acceptable by a responsa of the Law Committee of the Rabbinical Assembly.

PERMITTED FOODS

A. REQUIRING NO "KOSHER L 'PESACH" LABEL - The following foods are permitted in unopened packages or containers. They require no "Kosher L'Pesach" label: Natural coffee, sugar, tea, salt, pepper, frozen vegetables, dried fruits / vegetables, nuts, honey, pure cocoa and spices, garlic / onion powder (the same difference of opinion exists here on canned peas and beans, except for string beans, which all permit).

B. IF CERTIFIED FOR PASSOVER BY RABBINICAL AUTHORITY - Matzot, matzah flour, Passover noodles, candies, cakes, beverages, canned and processed foods, butter, jams, cheese, jellies, relishes, salad oils, vegetable gelatin, shortenings, vinegar, wines and liquors if they are certified by competent, trustworthy rabbinical authority as fit for Passover use. Labels and tags marked "Kosher L'Pesach" are valueless unless they bear a signature and are an intrinsic part of the package.

C. "NATURAL" FOODS - Many more items are sold today than previously in an unprocessed state or processed with no added ingredients. Traditional concerns with any admixture or possible contact with hametz necessitated the concern for rabbinical supervision. There is a difference of opinion as to the necessity of supervision for these foods. My own predilection, as stated before, is to be "I'hakayl," but people are welcome to be more stringent should they prefer.

Hametz, if in one's possession before Passover and incidental to the item in question, is negated by being less than one-sixtieth of the total quantity in which it may be mixed. Therefore, you will see guides advising the purchase of such items as frozen orange juice before Passover in sufficient quantity to last over the holiday. Juices, milk and other basic foods -- e.g., waterpack tuna fish (important: make sure there is no vegetable broth) and fruit packed in its own juice -- are good examples of this category.

DISHES, APPLIANCES AND UTENSILS

Only dishes and utensils specially reserved for Passover should be used, unless “kashering” is done as follows:

Silverware, knives, forks and spoons, if used during the year, may be used on Passover if thoroughly cleaned and immersed in boiling water. All table glassware is permitted after cleaning and rinsing. Fine translucent chinaware, if unused for a year, is permitted. Utensils used for baking during the year cannot be used during Passover. Earthenware and enamelware used during the year cannot be used on Passover. Stoneware with a high glaze, because it does not absorb, is permissible according to some sources.

Metal pots and pans used for cooking purposes only (but not for baking), if made wholly of metal, though used during the year, may be used on Passover if first thoroughly cleaned and kashered by immersion in boiling water.

Stoves are kashered for Pesach by a thorough scrubbing and cleansing of all parts and by turning on, full flame, for 20 minutes, both the oven and the burners under the grates.

Dishwashers may be used for Passover after a thorough cleaning with boiling water (run it empty on highest setting) -- once with soap and a second time empty.

SPRING AND THE SONG OF SONGS

Passover is the holiday of spring. One of the beautiful symbolic actions celebrating spring at this holiday season is the reading of Shir HaShirim, the Song of Songs. This small book, near the very back of the Holy Scriptures, is a sensual epic of love and physical attraction, almost inexplicably included in the Tanach. Rabbi Akiva, according to the Talmud, fought for and won its inclusion on the argument that it could be considered an allegory or mystical symbolism of the love between God and Israel. This love manifested itself in the birth of the Jewish people which we celebrate on Passover and in our continued existence to this day, despite all the trials of history. We will be reading selections from Shir HaShirim on Shabbat First Day Pesach, April 23th.

SEFIRAT HA-OMER

Beginning with the second night of Passover, and continuing for forty-nine nights, we count the Omer as taught in the Torah: "From the morrow of Pesach, from the day of your bringing the Omer, you shall count seven full weeks." The Omer was a special offering of barley gathered from the newly ripened grain, which then permitted the use of the spring harvest. In Temple times, the harvesting of the Omer on the second night of Pesach was an occasion for great celebration in the streets of Jerusalem. The Counting of the Omer takes place after nightfall. These forty-nine days link the festival of Passover, the celebration of our physical redemption, with the festival of Shavuot, which occurs on the fiftieth day, when we celebrate our spiritual redemption, the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai.

YOM HASHOAH - THE DAY OF REMEMBRANCE

COMMEMORATION OF THE WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING

This day of remembrance of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising is a day of Yizkor (memorial) for six million victims of the Nazi Holocaust. This annual commemoration should serve to enable young and old to recall and learn about the tragic history of the Holocaust, and the glorious record of Jewish heroism and martyrdom, and its meaning today. The Knesset of the State of Israel has established Nisan 27 as the Memorial Day for the Holocaust, and this day has been adopted by Jewish communities throughout the world. The custom of lighting six candles in memory of the six million Jews, like the lighting of the Hanukkah menorah, symbolizes the display of heroism in the face of hopeless odds. Yom HaShoah occurs this year on Thursday, May 5th. The time and place of the community observance of this sad day will be held at Emanuel Synagogue on Sunday, May 1st, at 7pm.

YOM HA-ATZMAUT

The 5th of Iyar is Israel Independence Day, the day that modern Israel became an independent nation after almost two thousand years. We celebrate Yom HaAtzmaut both in our prayers and as a community. Yom HaAtzmaut is observed this year on Thursday, May 12. The venue for any community observances of this day, the 68th Anniversary of the State of Israel, will be announced at a later date.

LAG B’OMER

In the second century of the common era, Eretz Israel was visited by a plague, with thousands of the disciples of Rabbi Akiba perishing. Many Jews died, too, in Bar Kochba's abortive rebellion against Roman rule. In their memory, this period is observed with partial mourning. The weeks of the Omer, therefore, have traditionally been times when we avoid wedding celebrations or other optional simchot. Since the plague is said to have ended on the 33rd day (Lag B'Omer), these restrictions are suspended for that day. School children commemorate the occasion by suspending their studies and having a day of field games. Most non-Orthodox Jews will end this semi-mourning period at this time, or even earlier: the joyful occasion of Yom Ha'Atzmaut. Lag B'omer occurs this year on Thursday, May 26.

SALE OF HAMETZ

According to Jewish law, a Jew should not only refrain from active use of all hametz (leavened products); he or she must not own any. The tradition has arisen to use one’s rabbi as an agent in selling one's hametz. In order to satisfy all possible contingencies, the legally binding contract below for the period of Passover has been set up.

Anyone wishing to sell their hametz should sign the contract (with applicable address or addresses) and return it to Rabbi Atkins by April 20, 2016.

I (WE)_____

Address______

Signature(s)

hereby authorize Rabbi Gary L. Atkins to dispose of all hametz that may be in my (our) possession wherever it may be, at home, place of work or elsewhere, in accordance with the requirements of Jewish Law.

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MAOT HITTIM PASSOVER FUND

It is an ancient and sacred custom to make a special appeal for funds before Passover to be used for those in need. While charity is a mitzvah at all times, it has long been felt that on Passover, particularly, none should go hungry and everyone should have the wherewithal for proper observance of the festival. Called Maot Hittim, this tradition continues in our own day and is used to provide Seder and other Passover needs to fellow Jews around the world. It has always been a hallowed tradition among our people to remember our less fortunate, wherever they may be, even as we prepare to celebrate Pesach together with our own families. Please carry out this mitzvah now.

Enclosed is my contribution to the Maot Hittim Passover Fund……..

Checks should be made out to Beth Hillel Synagogue.)

Name ______

Address ______

THANKS! HAG SAMEACH V’KASHER…..

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