The “C” Word

Chametz. Wheat. Oats. Rye. Barley. Spelt. Bread. Cookies. Cake. Crackers. Pasta. Cereal. You get the point. Jews are not allowed to have any chametz in their homes or possessions on the Jewish holiday of Passover. For those who don’t know, chametz is any food product that is made of the five grains listed above but leavened. That is why on Passover Jews must purchase and make kosher for Passover products that meet the restrictions.

There was a kid’s book I read when I was a child called Too Much Challah Dough written by Goldie Shulman. It’s about a girl who really wanted to bake challah. She bought all the ingredients from the grocery store and was so excited to do it all by herself. She added all the ingredients into a big bowl following the recipe with extreme focus. Then she set the bowl to the side allowing for the dough to rise. When suddenly, the dough began to rise, and rise, and rise, and it just kept on becoming bigger and bigger. Slowly, the dough began to take over her kitchen counter, her floors, her living room, dining room, and bedroom. The dough started spilling out of her windows, onto the floor, in the streets, and to her neighbor’s homes. The dough kept on traveling through the town until the whole town was covered in dough. What did the little girl do wrong? It was when the little girl realized that she put too much yeast in the dough, causing the dough to rise to an exponential amount. Moral of the story is, yeast is the enemy, and we should never buy it. No, not really-however, this is how Jews feel about chametz.

Throughout the year, we buy so many cookies, cakes, snacks, bags of flour, telling ourselves that we’ll finish it before Passover comes, which we usually do. Then Purim comes and our pantry is completely restocked with more chametz products from family friends and relatives. We tell ourselves, “We’ll finish it, or we’ll donate it.” Until Passover finally approaches, and we still have one bag of expired Bamba or a half-used bag of pasta that eventually must be eaten, cooked into a dinner, or sold. Furthermore, even if we don’t have chametz in our homes, we have clothing, kitchen counters, and furniture that needs to be cleaned and wiped down from chametz remnants. How about all those times that you baked challah and flour went everywhere? Or when your hands were sticky with challah dough and you touched a glass bowl, the oil bottle, or spices. Or when your child was eating a cracker and walked into every single room dropping crumbs everywhere. The chametz is everywhere and it’s taking over the world.

The only way to fight this illness is to not be at home. You won’t have to deal with the horrible cleaning and cooking. You have the freedom of buying whatever you want at whatever time of the year you want. You don’t have to worry about finishing it and you don’t have to worry about flour residue all over your home. You can function normally during the year and not be nervous or have nighttime sweats as Passover approaches. Book your Pesach program through Passover Listings, a website that showcases hundreds of Passover programs worldwide. If that isn’t for you, book a Passover Vacation Rental. Your family can book a massive rental either on your own or with other families and relatives. The house will already be cleaned to perfection, with no chametz. You have the option of cooking for Passover, buying from grocery stores, or buying catering from Passover caterers. You can finally have a positive association with Passover and wholeheartedly enjoy the holiday, as you deserve. So, this upcoming Passover, we are hoping that the “C” word no longer causes fear to you, your family, or your household. Instead, Passover will become a holiday that you await each year and look forward to.