How many times did you hear the phrase "spring cleaning"? Do you know where it's comming from? You'll be interested to find out especially if you are an anti-semita, a proud white, or just a republican.....
During the time of the Egyptian slavery, a man called Moses was sent by God to free the Jews, and lead them to a promised land. The story about how it happened, and what exactly happened there is one of the most famous ones, and most of the Jewish holidays are based on it.
The one I am talking about right now is also based on it, but instead of telling you the whole story, I only want to tell you about the life style the Jews had during their time in the desert.
They were on their feet all day, evey day, walking from Egypt to Palestine. They walked and walked and walked, carrying their whole lives on donkey and cammel backs, and on their own backs as well. Each night they would build tents to sleep in, mostly from things provided by nature, and the next morning they took these tents apart, and kept on walking.
AS you can immagine, food was a big problem with such a life style. They've had no refrigirators to keep the food cold, and they've had no time to grow anything. There was not enough time or material to cook all kinds of foods.
What they did is very simple. They took a little bit out of the flour they were bringing with them, mixed it with water and put this maze on the top of a sun heated desert stone, which cooked it in just a couple of seconds into a crunchy, taste lacking something we call "matza". This was used instead of bread.
The Jewish tradition is to remember all the sufferings our fathers had to go thru - "remember who you are, and remember where you are going". Each holiday the Jews do something in a specific way to experience on their own skin all what happened in the Torah.
Therefore, when Passover comes, the Jewish people celebrate it by eating the same way Jews used to do in the desert.
They eat this "matza" instead of bread, and they do not eat anything that requires time to grow or bake. Bread, pasta of all kinds, crackers, or pickels are not kosher during the 8 days of Passover, or "Pesach", and some Jewish traditions even forbid rice, beans, and the rest of the grains too. It leaves them to eat fish, meat, vegetables, and of course Matzot.
But the tradition doesn't stop at the eating habbits. To make sure people do not have any of the "chometz", non kosher foods for Passover, the Jewish family makes sure there is absolutely none of hese present in their home. They throw out all the Chometz foods and replace them with ones that are kosher for the holiday. This is not an easy task if you are thinking about bread, cracker, or cookie crumbs that could be left around the house.
To make sure they do not miss a crumb, they began an over all deep cleaning in the house. They get into every corner, every hidden hole. They open up every door in the house, every closet and every pocket. They go thru each clothes to empty the pockets and clean and organize the closets. They go thru papers and documents and by organizing them they can also clean under, behind and around. The fridge is being taken apart and even the rubber in the door is being scrubbed by a toothbrush to ensure the cleaning process. The same way the kitchen will be treated - oven, dish washer and all the kitchen equipments too. The religious ones go as far as changing their pots and frying pans along with the silver wear and plates, and galsses too just for the time of this holiday. They change the soaps, and tooth paste, and even the water must be Koser for Passover.
After the cleaning process, they go around the house in a traditional "hunt for Matzot" when the children can find the "left over bread" which they burn out side. It is not a big fire, just a representative one to show that there is no more Chometz in the house.
If they happend to have pasta, and stuff they do not want to throw out, they can "sell it". This is a tradition that was created for those who cannot afford to throw things out. They also do the whole deep cleaning but instead of throwing the food out, they put them into a locked up closet for the time of the hiloday. Long time ago it was possible to actually sell it to none Jews or to the Rabbi, who could put it away to a safe place. Than, after the holiday, they could buy the goods back. Today this is done by a more simple way. They put the food into a locked up closet and make a simple selling document with the Rabbi. This way, the Chometz was soled and no longer belongs to the family - therefore, they are not allowed to touch them. That's all.
Since Passover falls on Spring time, people adopted the phrase "spring cleaning". In orthodox Jewish families the Passover cleaning is still exactly the same as mentioned above. However, a lot of Jewish families are not leading a religious life style,at least not the way the Jewish religion defines it. What is left is eating the matzot and cleanning the house. Each family takes it as far as they feel comfortable with.
As of the rest of the world, it is simply something that stayed with people even after religions became so different form each other. But the truth is, that the Three main religions - Christion, Jewish and Muslim - are based on the same book. The Old Testament is the exact same book, as the first book of the Koran, and it is, word by word, what the Jews call the Torah. Our history is the same, and our traditions are based on the same events of this common history.
Today, a traditional Passover "Seder Eve" will be done which is basically a huge dinner party with all kinds of foods made out of Matzot. By tonight Sunset an Eight-days-celebration will begin all over the world. Tired home makers will enjoy the feeling of a clean house, and the blessings of a full table with friends and family around. Children will look for the Affikoman - de hidden Matzot - and when they'll find them, they'll get a gift from the adults. This could be an expensieve gift of just chocolates kosher for Passover. It doesn't really matter as long as the fun is there.
For those who celebrate this holiday, I wish a happy and kosher Passover! For those who don't I wish good luck for their spring cleanning, and I hope this time, it will be a little more meanningful to them :-)!
