It’s Monday morning, approximately 48 hours before the prohibition on chametz takes effect, and I’m only just now beginning my Passover cleaning. We have nearly emptied out our pantry, but I haven’t had time to even consider the rest of the cleaning until the big Birkat Hachamah Solar Fest I was working on took place yesterday.

 
 
Now I’m getting started on general housecleaning, and saving the kitchen for last. After everything is clean, then I can move on to kashering tomorrow. And for the first time I can remember, I’m starting to question whether I should continue being so by-the-book strict about Passover. Every year, in addition to cleaning and ridding the house of chametz (and then nullifyling and selling it for good measure), and changing dishes, I also boil all our pots, sauce pans, and flatware and self-clean the oven. Why? The short answer – to expunge the utensils of the chametz. But what is chametz, after all, when hidden in the walls of our pots? In my opinion, (shhhh…..) a figment of the rabbinic imagination! And yet, I spend several long, hot, messy hours, and burn myself every year at least three times, ridding my metal of imaginary leavened “bliyot” (absorbed chametz.)
I would love to write a long, eloquent, post about why I cling furiously to this tradition. But I don’t have time. I have to go clean the oven.