Pesach

[lavendersparkle]

This is the first time ever I've had the opportunity to have a vaguely kosher Pesach as I am currently only sharing my kitchen with one, extremely amenable, gentile. So here are the issues:

How much do I actually have to clean
Lots of Jews use the run up to Pesach as a manic OCD cleaning bonanza but I've heard rumours that this is not necessary unless you have a habit of storing large quantities of bread or flour in your wardrobe. So what's actually necessary?

Kashering
What needs kashering and what can be kashered? I get that I can't kosher earthenware and I'm planning to soak some glasses to kosher them because although it would be cheap to buy near glasses, we already have a cupboard full of glasses so I'm not buying any more. So the things that are confusing me are: I have saucepans which I'd like to kasher and a big stock pot in which to do it but I'm really confused by the whole 'if it's made of more than one bit there's a crack chametz could get into so it can't be kashered'-thing because almost all pans are made of more than one bit, otherwise they how would they have handles? Does stuff which lives in your chametzdik kitchen but aren't in contact with cheametz directly need to be koshered/put away, for example my kettle? My scales have a metal pan which could be boiled but I wouldn't want to immerse the scale itself, is that an issue?

Food
What's the deal with open packets? What actually needs certification? I know people who buy kosher l'pesach water but that kind of approach isn't so good if you don't live in Jewland and have to schlep every item back from Golders Green on the train.

Non-pesachdik stuff
So, do you have to sell your toaster or just your scotch? This is all a bit easier because I have my own pet non-Jew to transfer ownership to and the scotch is his already anyway. I've seen people put chametzi stuff in the cupboards and seal those cupboards up over Pesach how does that all work?

Seder
The last three years we've gone to seder's at friends' families' homes. This is nice but we don't want to schlep down to London this year. As far as I can see it, this leaves two options: go to the chaplain's seder or hold our own. If we held our own our friend Alice might come if she doesn't manage to get a plane ticket to Israel to spend Pesach with her boyfriend. Holding our own seder might be fun and would avoid the awkwardness of making someone else have to work out how to feed a vegan during Pesach. What haggadot should we get? At the moment I'm leaning toward the chief rabbi's because it's the solid safe option. I'll have a flick through a few if I go to Jewland tomorrow.

Comments

[naath.livejournal.com]

I think you can buy pans that are made from a single piece of metal. Naturally this means that they have metal handles which, personally, I think is a frankly stupid idea really.

[lavendersparkle.livejournal.com]

My pans have metal handles but they're a different bit of metal so the don't get hot. (Either than or it's magic.)

[naath.livejournal.com]

I suspect the inclusion of a piece of insulation if the handles are not getting hot. But maybe it's materials science magic.

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

It means you can put them in the oven, which is useful for making some things, such as pilau rice.

[naath.livejournal.com]

Ah, an interesting point. I tend to have Things To Put In Ovens in a different part of my head.

Plus my mother bought a kettle with a metal handle once, resulting in many cries of "OUCH WTF DESIGNED THIS!". I might be prejudiced.

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

I have a little booklet curious_reader gave me, from the JLE originally, telling you most of what you need to know. If you like, I can send you a copy.

Lots of Jews use the run up to Pesach as a manic OCD cleaning bonanza but I've heard rumours that this is not necessary unless you have a habit of storing large quantities of bread or flour in your wardrobe. So what's actually necessary?

You should clean anywhere חָמֵץ may have been. Since you don't have children dumping sweets down the back of bookshelves or the like in your place, this means you don't have to combine Pesach cleaning with spring cleaning.

As for your wardrobe, are you in the habit of having food in your pockets, where crumbs might escape?

What needs kashering and what can be kashered? I get that I can't kosher earthenware and I'm planning to soak some glasses to kosher them because although it would be cheap to buy near glasses, we already have a cupboard full of glasses so I'm not buying any more. So the things that are confusing me are: I have saucepans which I'd like to kasher and a big stock pot in which to do it but I'm really confused by the whole 'if it's made of more than one bit there's a crack chametz could get into so it can't be kashered'-thing because almost all pans are made of more than one bit, otherwise they how would they have handles?

I'm not a halachic expert on this, but I suspect if you take the handle off, you now have two (or more) items without cracks.

Note: if your saucepans are teflon-coated, they can't be kashered.

Does stuff which lives in your chametzdik kitchen but aren't in contact with cheametz directly need to be koshered/put away, for example my kettle? My scales have a metal pan which could be boiled but I wouldn't want to immerse the scale itself, is that an issue?

Again, I'm not an expert, but I think you'd be okay with that. Many people would wrap the scales themselves (bar the display) in foil, but as I understand it, the whole coating your entire kitchen in foil thing in addition to kashering the kitchen is a belt-and-braces mechanism.

What's the deal with open packets?

Theoretically, I don't think you're supposed to sell open packets as people wouldn't want to buy them... but in your case you could ask the Gentile you'd be selling them to directly, if he would.

What actually needs certification?

I'm going to answer this in a separate comment below.

I know people who buy kosher l'pesach water but that kind of approach isn't so good if you don't live in Jewland and have to schlep every item back from Golders Green on the train.

See below.

So, do you have to sell your toaster or just your scotch?

Again, I'm not an expert, but I'd clean your toaster, and then put it in the cupboard with the stuff you're selling.

I've seen people put chametzi stuff in the cupboards and seal those cupboards up over Pesach how does that all work?

The idea is that you designate a part of your house as a place for the person to whom you are selling the חָמֵץ to store it, and seal it up to symbolise that the contents of that cupboard are no longer yours. The cupboard needs to be clearly marked.

[lavendersparkle.livejournal.com]

A copy of that booklet would be great. Send it to Queens' college, Cambridge CB3 9ET.

What actually needs certification?

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

I went to a talk on this subject with Rabbi Chaim Weiner this time last year. He explained that there are three types of food; list A, list B and list C.

In supermarkets, foods in list A are all right, with no problems.

List C foods are made from grain, so need to be made under rabbinic supervision, e.g. חמה [eh?] (חָמֵץ is made from one of wheat, spelt, barley, rye or oats, plus water and more than 18 minutes.)

List B is more complicated: foods which are not inherently חָמֵץ, but are manufactured. You either get these under rabbinic supervision, or you fall back on the custom of בָּטֵל בַּשִׁשִׁים. (I'm assuming you know what this is.) The complication here is that this principle doesn't apply on Pesach—but, food consumed on Pesach made before Pesach is okay. There are a whole load of products which do not need supervision if bought before Pesach, but do afterwards. A classic example is milk. (So buy all your milk beforehand, and freeze that which you don't need.)

Bottled water is an example of something that looks innocent but can actually be problematic: The same production chains are used for still as well as sparkling water, and the bubbles in sparkling water are often sourced as a by-product of the production of beer. [Drink tap-water, is what I say to that.]

For jam, there are כָּשֵׁר לְפֶּסַח jams; what makes these different are merely that they've been put through the machines the first production of the day, immediately after a thorough cleaning. Thorough cleanings are expensive, and normally only done irregularly: they make a series of jams from light colour down to dark colour and keep the temperature up in the machine the whole time. You can, however, just use normal jam by applying the principle of בָּטֵל בַּשִׁשִׁים so long as you buy it before Pesach.

Fish is a list A product (as bought over the fish counter in Sainsbury's), including sliced fish and frozen fish. What about canned tuna? Tuna in springwater is list A, so okay; tuna in brine (and oil) is processed, so is not.

Coffee, olive oil, tea are all list A. (Though for some of these, there's little difference in the price.) Butter: best to buy before Pesach. Fresh orange juice is okay; orange juice from concentrate is not. Salt and sugar Chaim buys כָּשֵׁר לְפֶּסַח. [He said why, but spoke and moved on too fast for me to get it down.]

What about washing-up liquid? Things which are inedible are outside of the range of כַּשְׁרוּת. (A general rule is if your dog won't eat it...) What about toothpaste? The majority of rabbis don't think toothpaste needs to be supervised.

[wrenb.livejournal.com]

Get a copy of Blu Greenberg's How to Run a Traditional Jewish Household. She's got a great rundown of her Pesach-prep routine. She says to start at Purim for a big family, but you and I can start cleaning a little later. :)

I don't make Pesach without her help. And I'm a progressive Jew, not very observant at all. But just knowing how an actual person does it (versus the pronouncements of a rabbi) has helped me a lot.