how do I cleanse my life of chametz?

rabbi meir shmuel ben tzip­po­rah v’nechemia halevi [ר‘משבצונה“ל] teaches:

Judith came in from the fields where it appeared as though the whole com­mu­nity was out har­vest­ing the new grain crop. The rains had ceased and the ground had dried enough to enable them to walk through the plants and col­lect the ripened sheaves. The stone house still felt damp from the win­ter and she helped her mother empty the stor­age urns of the remain­der of the pre­vi­ous year’s grains.

The mois­ture had got­ten into every­thing. They rec­og­nized the aroma of slowly fer­ment­ing wheat and bar­ley and they did not want the old to con­t­a­m­i­nate the new. Judith’s mother even took the lit­tle wad of dough she always removed after knead­ing to put in a cool cov­ered pot to help the next batch rise and added that also to the pile to take out and burn. They were so care­ful that after sweep­ing the stone floor with the palm fronds they took feath­ers and swept out the corners.

Judith thought about how the Chametz puffed up the bread she liked so much, yet con­sid­ered how a sim­i­lar spoilage often puffed her up with pride. She always felt cleansed as she warmed her hands with the heat of the burn­ing Chametz. Both because it reminded her of the escape from slav­ery to free­dom, the beauty of purity and sim­plic­ity and because she knew it would only take a week for her mother to cre­ate a new starter, Judith didn’t mind eat­ing the Matzah her mother would make with the brand new dough.

how do I cleanse my life of chametz?

what is “#blogexodus”?

My friend and col­league Phyl­lis Som­mers has thought of yet a new cre­ative way to pre­pare for Peasach. You can learn more here.

blog­ging the exodus