26 Mar PESACH CLEANING

The world over, Jews

will soon be wrapped-
up in the annual search

for chometz. Most
of us are also aware
that this is not simply
s p r i n g – c l e a n i n g .
Rather, cleaning for Pesach is a profound
symbolism for the soul-searching that is
supposed to accompany us during this
time of year, for the Gemora in Pesachim
teaches us that leaven is a symbol for the
evil inclination: Just as yeast agitates the
dough, so too the Yeitzer Hara agitates
the soul of man trying to get him to sin.
With this in mind we can better
understand the four steps we take to rid
ourselves of chometz before Pesach.
First we do the bedika, searching for
the chometz, which signifies our duty to
make a cheshbon hanefesh, a spiritual
accounting, and seek out the imperfections
in our daily life. Then we do the bittul
ceremony stating that any leaven that we
might be unaware of should be rendered
ownerless like the very dust of the earth.
This ritual symbolizes the effort we take
to mentally establish in our minds that the
sins the Yeitzer Hara tempts us to do are

really meaningless, neither worthy of our
attention nor our pursuit. The next step is
biur chometz where we actually burn the
leaven symbolizing that it is not sufficient
for us to put aside our temptations. We
must try to eradicate their desire from
our very being for, if not, they will likely
come back to hurt us over and over.
We also sell any chometz that we have
to a gentile. This step is to remind us
that many of our temptations are due to
the influence we have absorbed from our
gentile neighbors. Thus, we symbolically
give them back to the non-Jew to drive
home the message that we will try to divest
ourselves of the dangerous practices such
as fashion, speech, music, and others that
we might have picked up from them.
Rav Shach, Zt”l, Zy”a, cited in the
fabulous ArtScroll Rav Shach Haggadah,
explains another angle to the chometz-
-Yeitzer Hara symbolism. He reveals
that when one hands out the little balls of
dough to the persons rolling the matzahs
at the matzah bakery, we are cautioned
never to allow the dough sit idly for even
a moment. Thus, concludes Rav Shach,
the evil of chometz is caused by the
absence of work and action. Similarly,

he asks, when the
slithering serpent
swindled Chava
into committing the
sin of eating from
the Eitz Hadas
in the Garden of
Eden, where was
Adam HaRishon?
Why wasn’t he
around to protect
her and guide
her? The Medrash
answers that Adam
was sleeping at
the time. So, the first sin, the one that
brought death to all of mankind, was
made possible by Adam’s inaction. Rav
Shach concludes that in the battle with the
Yeitzer Hara we must constantly strive to
spiritually improve and better ourselves
for staying static in life leads to victory
for the Yeitzer Hara.
Two things that must be avoided at all
costs when preparing kosher matzahs:
water and heat. Thus, if the wheat became
damp in the attic, it is disqualified. The
flour should not be stored anywhere near
the water. As to heat, we are taught that
the flour shouldn’t be handled too often
by humans for the heat of hands causes
it to leaven. The sacks of wheat should
not be kept directly on the backs of
animals so as not to be warmed from the
heat of the animal, or incidentally to be
moistened by the sweat of the animal.
There are numerous other Halachic
guidelines to avoid water and heat when
it comes to making matzah.
On a symbolic level, there are powerful
homiletic messages here. If we want
to stay away from the chometz that
represents the evil inclination, we have
to beware of heat, which represents
the powerful passions that can lead a
person to sin, such as forbidden lust,
sinful jealousy, and a pursuit of pride
and glory. Perhaps the water in this case
represents one of the names of water,
geshem, rain, which is metaphorical for
gashmius, materialism, and is a warning

that if a person steeps himself single-
mindedly into the pursuit of hedonism

he will become totally enslaved to the
Yeitzer Hara.
As we labor with the arduous task
of cleaning our entire houses from
even a minuscule amount of chometz,
let’s remember that this is a powerful
protection for the Jewish people. On the
verse, “Shomer mitzvah lo yeida davar

ra – One who heeds a mitzvah will not
know from any evil,” the Medrash gives
a startling example. Esther HaMalka
destroyed the chometz herself before
Pesach and was saved from the plot of
Haman. From this Medrash, the Chida
dramatically points out that our search
for chometz creates a powerful protection
for the Jewish people against the forces
of evil in the world. This Chida brings
to mind the valorous Jews of the Warsaw
ghetto who diligently cleaned their
houses before Pesach on the eve of their
deportations to the death camps. Imagine
cleaning for a Pesach that you might not
live to see! But, perhaps many of those
same Jews survived the inferno in the
zechus of their cleaning.
So too, in our times, our searching for
chometz is not merely heavy labor and
tough times with the ElectroLux and the
oven cleaners. It is a mighty powerful
protection during these times of danger.
May Hashem bless us with much
spiritual improvement and in that merit
may we be zoche to long life, good
health, and the final redemption speedily
in our days.