Passover with Sinai

Passover, one of the most widely celebrated holidays in the Jewish calendar, commemorates the exodus from Egypt, the journey toward redemption, and our personal paths as we move toward freedom.

Celebrated with the Passover Seder, an organized meal, we tell the story of the exodus, the trials and tribulations of the people, the rabbinic interpretations of the text, and seek to find ourselves amidst the story.

Passover 5784 will begin on Monday night, April 22, 2024 and continue through April 30, 2024. Information for celebrating with Congregation Sinai can be found below:

• Have a Kosher Passover

• Sell your chametz

• Hametz: Laws and Customs

• Songs of the Seder

• Learn how to run your own Passover seder

• Sign up to join Congregation Sinai’s Second Night Seder

• Kosher for Passover Tequila List

Kosher for Passover

• Lots of resources are available at Exploring Judaism.

• Download the Rabbinical Assembly’s Pesach Guide.

• For entertaining, easy-to-follow videos about how to kasher your kitchen, check out Kashering Your Kitchen With Rabbi Ethan Tucker. This series walks us through every step of kashering your kitchen, from the difference between granite and ceramic sinks to the intricacies of pots and pans and all kinds of kitchenware.

Authorization to Sell Chametz 5784

The Torah prohibits the ownership of chametz (leavened grain) during Pesach (Passover). If possible, all chametz – food not acceptable during Pesach, or materials containing such unacceptable food – should be destroyed or given away before the holiday begins. Should this be impossible, the chametz may be stored in such a way that one is sure to not use it during the holiday. Its actual ownership is transferred to a non-Jew until the holiday ends.

The transfer, mekhirat hametz, is accomplished by appointing an agent, usually the rabbi, to handle the sale. It is a valid and legal transfer of ownership. At the end of the holiday, the agent arranges for the reversion of ownership of the now-permitted chametz. If ownership of the chametz was not transferred before the holiday, the use of this chametz is prohibited after the holiday as well.

It is appropriate to make a gift of tzedakah when appointing an agent for the sale of chametz.

Please complete and return this form no later than 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, April 21, 2024.

Hameitz: Laws and Customs

By Alan Lucas
Adapted from The Observant Life

There are few aspects of Jewish observance as complicated as preparing for Passover. The Torah, at Exodus 12:15–20, prohibits the eating of leavened food, popularly called hameitz, during the entire festival. But the situation is even more stringent than that, for the halakhah forbids not only eating hameitz, but even deriving any benefit from it or permitting the presence in our homes of any hameitz that belongs to us during the entire festival period. It is this last requirement that results in the kind of intense labor most of us associate with preparing for Passover.

The forbidden substance, hameitz, is defined as any food made of any of the five species of grain—wheat, barley, oats, spelt, and rye—that has been made wet with water, then left unbaked for more than eighteen minutes. Baking halts the leavening process, so if water is added to any of the above grains but baked within the eighteen-minute period, it is deemed to be unleavened. This is why matzah is called “unleavened bread,” as it is supervised to give assurance that no more than eighteen minutes ever elapse between the time the water is added and the time it finishes baking. To the five original grains, Ashkenazic custom adds rice, corn, millet, and certain kinds of legumes, generally called kitniyyot, for reasons that are explained below.

בדיקת חמץ: The Search for Hameitz

Since the possession of any amount of hameitz at all is considered a violation of the law, great effort must be made to remove all food substances that contain hameitz from the home before Passover. After intense cleaning and the removal of all visible hameitz, a search—popularly called b’dikat hameitz—is undertaken the night before Passover after sundown. (This search takes place on Thursday evening when the first night of Passover falls on Saturday night.) Since, by now, almost all hameitz should have been removed from the house, it is customary to leave a few crumbs of bread or cake (or any leavened substance) around the house so that something can be found and the search will not feel as though it were carried out in vain. A candle is lit and used to search out the hameitz hidden in even the darkest recesses of the house.

The blessing recited before the search can be found at the beginning of the Passover Haggadah (a one-page version adapted from the Feast of Freedom Haggadah is available here). Then, after the search concludes, a special prayer is recited that declares any unlocated hameitz to be null and void, “as if it did not exist,” and affirms that a good-faith effort was made to find and remove all hameitz in one’s possession. The text of this declaration too can be found in the front of any Passover Haggadah. One who is away from home on the night before Pesah can perform the b’dikah earlier (Magein Avraham to SA Orah Hayyim 432:6; Mishnah B’rurah ad loc., note 10). Those who will be away for the entire holiday can sell their hameitz early and not be obligated for b’dikah (Mishnah B’rurah to SA Orah Hayyim 436:32).

בעור חמץ: The Destruction of Hameitz

The next morning we participate in a ceremonial burning of the small amount of hameitz that was found during the search the night before. This ceremonial burning is called biur hameitz (“destruction of hameitz”). This can be done at home, but some communities sponsor communal bonfires where the public brings hameitz for burning. A declaration similar to the one made after the search for leaven the previous evening is recited following the burning of the hameitz. The remaining crumbs of hameitz must be destroyed long before noon on the day before Passover (Most synagogues announce the precise time by which the hameitz must be destroyed so as not to require individuals to calculate the precise time on their own).

The deadline for actually eating hameitz, however, is even earlier than that. Nor, however, may matzah be eaten on the eve of Passover until the seder meal itself (SA Orah Hayyim 471:2). And some suggest that one should not eat matzah from Rosh Hodesh Nisan on in order to increase one’s appetite for the mitzvah of matzah on the first night of Passover (Mishnah B’rurah to SA Orah Hayyim, loc. cit., note 11).

מכירת חמץ: The Selling of Hameitz

Finally, there is the custom of selling hameitz. The original intention of tradition was completely to rid one’s house of all traces of hameitz. As time went on and households grew in size, this became more difficult, more costly, and more wasteful. In turn, this led to the creation of a legal mechanism known as m’khirat hameitz, the selling of leavened foods. The procedure is as follows. All remaining hameitz is put out of sight for the entire length of the festival. It is then formally sold to a non-Jew. Even though it remains in the house, it is no longer deemed technically to be in one’s legal possession and thus, equally technically, not to contravene the requirement to rid one’s home of hameitz. This hameitz may be purchased back after the conclusion of the holiday. Most often, this sale is a service arranged by synagogues with the rabbi acting as the community’s agent. Through a formal procedure, interested parties give the rabbi the authority to sell their remaining hameitz, which is accomplished through a formal transaction with a non-Jew some time before the deadline for possessing hameitz in a Jewish home. The sale involves certain requirements on the part of the purchaser, however, and, when the non-Jewish purchaser does not complete the requirements of the sale at the end of the holiday, the hameitz reverts back to its original owners. Some rabbis actually repurchase the hameitz formally to restore it to its original owners after the festival ends.

In any event, it is not sufficient merely to store away hameitz in a Jewish home over Passover and not sell it formally because of the concept of hameitz she-avar alav ha-Pesah, hameitz after the holiday ends that somehow remained in the possession of a Jew during Passover. Any such hameitz may not be eaten after Passover, as a kind of punishment for ignoring this stricture against owning hameitz during the festival. So it is important to either get rid of or sell hameitz before Passover.

Songs of the Seder

The Passover Seder is full of wonderful musical traditions. Here are some songs that are sung over the course of the recitation of the Haggadah. (You will hear all of these melodies at Congregation Sinai’s Second Night Community Seder.)

To go straight to the playlist on Youtube, click here.

 How to Run a Passover Seder

Rabbi Berkenwald taught an online class on “How to Run a Passover Seder” in 2020. You can view it below. To download a PDF of the slideshow, click here. It includes links to all of the resources in the presentation.

Kosher for Passover Tequila List

The following list of Kosher for Passover tequila [Silver/Blanco Only], mezcal [Silver Blanco], and sotol (even when KFP status is not indicated on the bottle) is organized by manufacturer and is courtesy of SUPERVISORES EN CALIDAD KOSHER of Mexico.

Pro Tip: Use the search-in-page feature (CTRL-F on desktop) to find the desired product.

Tequilas 

PATRON SPIRITS MÉXICO, S.A. DE C.V.

GRAN PATRÓN PLATINUM SILVER TEQUILA

GRAN PATRON SMOKY SILVER TEQUILA

PATRON SILVER TEQUILA

ROCA PATRON SILVER TEQUILA

TEQUILA 100% DE AGAVE SILVER GRAN PATRON PLATINIUM

TEQUILA 100% DE AGAVE SILVER PATRÓN

TEQUILA BLANCO “PATRON”

BROWN FORMAN TEQUILA MEXICO, S. DE R. L. DE C. V.

TEQUILA EL JIMADOR BLANCO 100% AGAVE

TEQUILA HERRADURA BLANCO 100% AGAVE

TEQUILA ANTIGUO DE HERRADURA BLANCO 100% AGAVE

TEQUILA 100% DON EDUARDO BLANCO

RIVESCA, S.A. DE C.V.

TEQUILA CREPUSCULO 750 ML BLANCO

TEQUILA DON MODESTO 750 ML BLANCO

TEQUILA DS COMPANY 750 ML BLANCO

TEQUILA EL BANDEÑO 750 ML BLANCO

TEQUILA ESTRELLA AZUL 750 ML BLANCO

TEQUILA GRAN CIERVO JOVEN DE JALISCO 750 ML BLANCO

TEQUILA HECHICERO 750 ML BLANCO

TEQUILA TORO DE LIDIA 750 ML BLANCO

TEQUILA REGALO DE DIOS 750 ML BLANCO

TEQUILA REJÓN BLANCO 750 ML

TEQUILA REJÓN BLANCO 1.750L

TEQUILA REJON BLANCO 100% DE AGAVE 1 L

TEQUILA REJÓN BLANCO 1L

TEQUILA RIVESCA 750 ML BLANCO

TEQUILA TORO DE LIDIA 1,750 ML BLANCO

TEQUILA TORO DE LIDIA 750 ML BLANCO

Mezcal

MEZCAL DE AMOR S.A.P.I. DE C.V.

AMARÁS CUPREATA

AMARÁS ESPADÍN JOVEN

AMARÁS ESPADÍN REPOSADO

AMARÁS LOGIA CHUPARROSA

AMARÁS LOGIA JABALÍ

AMARÁS LOGIA SACATORO

AMARÁS LOGIA SIERRA NEGRA

AMARÁS LOGIA TEPEZTATE

AMARÁS LOGIA TOBALÁ

AMORES CUPREATA

AMORES ESPADÍN JOVEN

AMORES ESPADÍN REPOSADO

AMORES LOGIA SIERRA NEGRA

AMORES LOGIA TOBALÁ

MVM VERDE MOMENTO

VERDE AMARAS

VERDE MA

Sotol 

VINOMEX, S.A. DE C.V.

FIESTA CHIHUAHUA

SOTOL EXCÉNTRICO REPOSADO

SOTOL HACIENDA DE CHIHUAHUA AÑEJO

SOTOL HACIENDA DE CHIHUAHUA AÑEJO ORO PURO

SOTOL HACIENDA DE CHIHUAHUA BLANCO, SÍLVER O PLATA

SOTOL HACIENDA DE CHIHUAHUA H5

SOTOL HACIENDA DE CHIHUAHUA PLÁTINUM

SOTOL HACIENDA DE CHIHUAHUA REPOSADO

SOTOL HACIENDA DE CHIHUAHUA RÚSTICO

SOTOL MESH AND BONE

SOTOL MESTEÑO JOVEN

Sotol Puntagave