Pesach Cleaning: A Deep Spiritual Experience

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The days, weeks and sometimes even months before Pesach find many Jewish women scrubbing, scouring and sometimes stressing over each room of their homes. Reaching up high, stretching down low, hunting in every nook and cranny for forgotten snacks, old art projects made of pasta and dreaded crumbs. Quickly, the home of every Jewish woman takes on a look that is only reminiscent of outer space with the abundant silver foil splayed out on every surface. All this becomes a heavy mental as well as physical load. How can we find the meaning of Pesach as we find yet another wrapper in a jacket or remove a stray cheerio from between the couch cushions?

Our actions down here in the physical world tug on invisible strings which have ripple effects in Shamayim. When we physically clean our homes of chametz, we have the ability to spiritually cleanse ourselves of chametz too. The Gemara¹ records the tefilla of an Amora, Rav Alexandri who would recite after davening: “It is revealed and known to You that our wish is to do Your desire, and what stops us? The leavening agent in the bread (seor she’bisa) and foreign domination (shibud malchiyut). These two factors prevent us from doing ratzon Hashem. Rashi writes there that this ‘seor she’bisa’ is none other than the yetzer hara. Just as the yeast puffs up the bread’s dough, allowing it to assume great proportions, so too does the yetzer hara puff us up, with the empty air of arrogance, jealousy, anger or forbidden desire – leading us to trip in our avodat Hashem. The same way that shibud malchiyut, our state of subjugation to our enemies in galut can prevent us from doing mitzvot, our own yetzer hara can entrap us, leading to the same result. The difference between chametz and matza is that pompous puff off the bread, the seor she’bisa. The chametz of our soul are those inflated, sinful inclinations inside of us, which detract from the true goodness, the matza in our hearts. Physically clearing and cleaning the home of chametz is but one step of the process. Finding the chametz which lies inside of us is the true labor. Once we have done that, we can then complete the process with biur chametz, burning those inclinations, setting them on fire once and for all.

In fact, Rabbi Frand writes² about the prohibition for the korban mincha to become chametz, leavened. Rabbeinu Bachya explains that adding leavening agents would undermine the whole purpose of the korban. Since korbanot are brought to rectify sins which our yetzer hara has caused, we cannot add leaven, which represents the yetzer hara. If not for the seor she’bisa, the yetzer hara, the korban would not need to be brought at all. Rabbeinu Bachye further elaborates on the two separate prohibitions of chametz over Pesach – the prohibition to see chametz and the prohibition to own chametz. Not seeing chametz is an instruction to not allow the yetzer hara to manifest through our behavior while not having chametz found in our homes is a command to not allow the yetzer hara to even dwell in the privacy of our hearts.

A lone candle may not be enough to light an entire home, but the blazing light of the sun won’t allow a person to spy what has fallen in a corner. Bedikat chametz is not focused on the macro, which would be best achieved by the light of the sun, but on the details, each crevice. On a spiritual level, it is not sunlight but candlelight which is the symbol of lighting up our internal world in line with the pasuk “the candle of Hashem is the soul of man.” The light of bedikat chametz is the best light to illuminate small, specific areas. Not only the crevices of our homes, but the crevices of our souls.

Following the heavy-duty cleaning, we perform an official search for chametz known as bedikat chametz. It is interesting to consider that this Torah-mandated search is conducted after nightfall, when we lack the benefit of daylight. This is deliberately so, as we are instructed to specifically search for the chametz by candlelight. The Sefer Ohel Rachel compares the light of the sun to the light of a candle and explains that although the light of a candle can never illuminate the world at large in the way that the sun can, it can focus on hidden areas which sunlight could never reach. A lone candle may not be enough to light an entire home, but the blazing light of the sun won’t allow a person to spy what has fallen in a corner. Bedikat chametz is not focused on the macro, which would be best achieved by the light of the sun, but on the details, each crevice. On a spiritual level, it is not sunlight but candlelight which is the symbol of lighting up our internal world in line with the pasuk “the candle of Hashem is the soul of man.” The light of bedikat chametz is the best light to illuminate small, specific areas. Not only the crevices of our homes, but the crevices of our souls. As we search each room, we could ask ourselves which specific yetzer hara took hold of us in that place. The bedroom? Perhaps laziness. The living room? Maybe mindless chatter and gossip. The kitchen? Could be greed. However, as Mr. David Sacks³ expressed beautifully, the Sages specifically designated a feather for the search. This delicate feather symbolizes the gentle way in which we search for our flaws. With softness, with grace and with care.

Even without deep spiritual kavanot, the cleaning itself is incredibly holy. Generally, in Yiddishkeit, the preparation for a mitzva is greater than the mitzva itself. Thus, preparing the house for Pesach is the most precious action in Hashem’s eyes. The Aish Kodesh taught⁴ that it is the cleaning of the house before Pesach which enables us to access the inner essence of Pesach. The same way we only feel our heart beating within us once we move our arms and legs, so too we can only penetrate to the deep core of Pesach after we have moved our bodies and prepared our homes physically. Of course, if we have time, spiritually preparing by reading a favorite Haggada is beautiful preparation too but the primary avoda of the woman is to take care of the home. This task will ensure that her soul is receptive to all the holiness and light intrinsic to Seder night and Pesach in general. Unlike cleaning our homes for hygiene, (which is a chessed to our family and kavod to our home and therefore a mitzva) before Pesach we are cleaning our homes solely because it is Hashem’s will, making the holiest possible use of our detergent sprays and scourers.

One final perspective addresses the nature of Pesach itself. On Pesach, Rabbi Hartman explains, the Jewish people are born, it is our nation’s birthday. Before the birth of a child, we prepare our home and ensure that all our baby equipment is safe, clean and sterile. In some sense, cleaning our homes for Pesach is much like preparing our home for a new baby. Klal Yisrael is the new baby, each year we are reborn anew and our newborn state requires not sterilised pacifiers or bottles, but a chametz-free environment. We don’t need to provide mother’s milk, the most wholesome food for the body, but matza, the best food for the Jewish soul⁵. Viewing our preparation in this way elevates all our hard work and helps us view Pesach in a deeper way.

Finally, in Rabbi Twerski’s haggada, he cautions against spiritual anxiety as Seder night arrives. Once we sit down in our spotless, sparkling homes, we must not allow our minds to wander “Did I remember to check that shelf?” Once we have properly scrubbed and scoured, we must arrive at Seder night like the royalty we are. Then, we can sit and immerse ourselves in the lofty fifteen-step ascension to true freedom and closeness to Hashem and bask in the holy beauty of the Seder.

I will conclude with the powerful words of Chana Weisberg, “Pocket by pocket, lego by lego, drawer by drawer, my home is being transformed. My family is leaving Egypt and making our way, ever so slowly, to the Promised Land.”⁶ As we leave behind our chametz-laden homes, we clean our way to cheirut olam, the everlasting freedom of Torah and dveikut b’Hashem.