How long can tools be disgusting?
• How long can you eat chametz and when do you burn the leftovers?
• Seder night will take place on Saturday, bringing with it halakhic challenges • "Israel Today" is making Seder
Arguments for the Seder table
Photo:
Oren Ben Hakon
Although the people of Israel vacated for one moment yesterday (Tuesday) for the elections, with all due respect, in terms of millions around the country and the world, the real drama does not take place in the Knesset of Israel, but in every home, just two days before Passover.
Dishwashing stands are already being made in many cities, while maintaining distances and wearing masks, and these are expected to last until Saturday evening.
This year, the Feast of Unleavened Bread falls with the end of Shabbat, which provides unique challenges for tradition keepers.
In contrast to a normal year, tomorrow will be a first-day fast, in which it is customary to fast or alternatively to participate in a mitzvah meal.
In the synagogues, as every year, a class is held to end the Gemara Tractate, which is then accompanied by pastries and drinks in order to break the fast.
On Thursday evening, a chametz search ceremony will be held in many homes, ending the period of intensive cleaning.
The next day, Friday, there will be chametz burning stands all over the country.
It is usually a relatively short ceremony in which the chametz left in the house is burned and a blessing is said, but in light of the fact that last year there was a strict closure where it was forbidden to leave the house more than 100 meters away, there is an exciting ceremony.
Since the holiday takes place close to Shabbat, this is a challenge, as mentioned, for the keepers of tradition.
According to Halacha, they must eat bread before breakfast, but since it is Passover eve, they must finish eating the chametz before about 10:10 (check the exact time for each area).
Therefore, the morning prayers were brought forward in many synagogues and then the diners will hurry home, eat the bread outside the house or very carefully so as not to soil the place of residence with chametz, and then continue with a kosher meal for Passover.
"Now freemen"
With the departure of Shabbat, Seder night meals will begin all over the country, which are expected to last until the late hours of the night.
Here, too, it is a particularly exciting class for both young and older families, who were forced to make the arrangement alone last year, sometimes for the first time.
The older parents and young children will meet after a difficult year for Seder night and say the Haggadah together, read the words "We were slaves - now free" and feel well the blessed release from the many closures and difficulties that the plague brought with it thanks to vaccines.