Pre-Pesach Workshop - Rabbi Efrem Goldberg

okay good morning Booker Tov a good walk on the shavuatov welcome to this we're here in person and to those who are joining online I want to thank our sponsor for this prepay stock Workshop Dr Ronnie and Jennifer Hermann and I'm telling Shawnee Herman a memory of Lou Herman uh thank you so much for your generosity and Your sponsorship every year I come to the prepay stock Workshop I expect to be all alone in a room give it a couple minutes confirm that nobody shows go home and enjoy the rest of my day Hashem you continue to come it's a beautiful thing I say that not making fun of you but making fun of myself because the truth is 98 of what we say every year is the same as the year before pesach hasn't changed the Allah hasn't changed some of the circumstances have changed the ingredients for the most part it's the same but we gather and it's a testament and a testimony to you those who are offline and online a real commitment to not only observing paste Aqua to observe it right to be vigilant scrupulous and to want to fulfill the laws to the fullest but I want to spend a few minutes before we dive into to the kitchen and the ingredient lists and the Cosmetic lists and all the different areas of alacha and I want to spend a few minutes learning something together with you and I want to make two points that are new this year if you tune into the beginning at least you get something new then you can drop off when you're when we hit the old you know repetition but I want to start off by making two important points that are that are new this year the first is a sensitivity point and really I'm speaking to myself not to you but very often we talk about pesach we make we make light or we make fun or we reference you know the Jewish people we're all OCD we're all neurotic and we use words and language that we should be much more sensitive to I'm learning this I think we're all learning this as we've seen mental health issues and challenges rise OCD obsessive compulsive disorder is something real and the people who struggle with it often are debilitated by it and the notion that a person is cleaning for pesach somehow parallels the everyday strong struggle that somebody with OCD goes through is a disservice is insensitive I'm not going to tell you our next episode of Out of the Shadows are a podcast about mental health in the Jewish communities on OCD coming out this week or next week it's really important to listen to in worthwhile whether you yourself have been diagnosed or someone you know or love or just to be sensitive in general to what it really means but I think one of the things that I've learned that I'm trying to be more sensitive to I think we all can is to not is language is important language matters words have power and when we talk about the general attitude cleaning and we use words like neurotic or OCD then we're being insensitive and we're triggering at times even those who struggle for real so it is an annual opportunity and reminder to be careful that language matters number one number two I want to spend a few minutes studying together with you may not be why you came but too bad I got the mic I got the camera it's too bad but I want to spend a few moments learning why all this matters we're going to spend the next few weeks and we're going to spend a holiday in which Clements is Arch Enemy Number One and you're going to sit in you're gonna ask about toothpicks and toothbrushes and scrubbing we're going to talk about moving appliances and climbing ladders we're going to talk about what can be sold or not sold what appliances need to be replaced or not replaced why we can get so lost in the minutia and the details they all matter they matter critically said motion was accused of siphoning off of stealing money they did a forensic accounting they did an audit of the mishkan and moshead first panicked it didn't account for some of the money and then he remembered where did it go it covered the cost of buying the vavaya and these hooks the hooks that held together the Michigan why did you forget about them they're negligible you know when you put up your sucker your sucker could be very expensive the screws are the least expensive part of the sucker so when you put together your budget for your sukkah you think about the walls only is expensive maybe air conditioning maybe flooring you don't have a line item for the box of screws they're negligible they're insignificantly dismiss them and most Romana didn't account for them at first and sovichik says the screws represent the minutia the details of Allah Jewish law and 30 40 50 60 years ago all the denominations made fun of Orthodoxy all that matters is the big picture all that matters is that you're a good person and a kind Jew and rest on Shabbos even if it means going to the beach and Allah we come back and say no the vavage them those hooks those little screws they hold everything together if you get rid of the minutia and the details and the laws the whole building collapses it implodes if we want the structure to be firm and strong the details of the minutia they matter the hooks that hold it all together they matter and the minutia of hamets the laws of Muhammad these details they matter they mean something so you can't neglect them and you can't negate them but you also can't be so consumed by them that we lose the forest for the trees so beautiful is the collection of the teachings of the students of the hill of hasidus on a different topic this is the following bear with me a couple minutes and I promise you we'll get to the workshop while you came we had the workshop early enough this year that you're not panthened we always choose which is the Sunday too early nobody's going to come too close to pay stock it's too late I don't know if we got it just right like the Three Bears this week but we have enough time that we can learn something together for a moment which is the collection of the teachings the bashem known as the tuldos the todos Yankovic writes nearly the Dinesh when it comes to the laws of pesach we're including two things when it comes to every Mitzvah we observe it's made up of two parts there's the body the physical component or expression of the Mitzvah and there's the nishama there's the soul of the Mitzvah um so for example we say words in a sitter we read them we recite them we move our lips the Goof the physical part of davening is the sitter of the words and the moving of our lips but if you're not present and mindful if you're not concentrating and thinking about what you're saying it's like a body with no soul so too when it comes to our seek and destroy mission for the next few weeks Search and Destroy the weapons of mass destruction known as comets so too we're going to look at and eliminate and Destroy and disown and relinquish relationship with there are two parts of the shama maisa there's the ACT I gotta look I gotta and we're going to talk about where do I have to look and what do I have to eliminate Sahara but we can't go through the external physical motions we can't live the Goof of beer hamets and neglect the shama we're so consumed and we're so busy with where is it and did I get rid of it and am I ready and how do you cash her and what do you buy that we never stop and pause and we never take that deep breath and we're never focused and mindful what is comets what am I looking for and why am I getting rid of it and what is it in my life where is it in my heart and where is it in my soul and where has it been in my lifestyle and where is it in my practice how do I eliminate it in the moment the night before pesach the moment a person should be my mindful we're not going to take the time he goes through the 10 pieces of bread that we hide he goes through the kavana one should have with each of the ten pieces a different cavana a different mindfulness of a different area of repair a different area of growth a different area of responsibility that's what I mean 30 days before passage we ask and we extrapolate and we learn about the holidays 30 days before why does it use a double language just say learn the laws some say by the way this is an answer which is given I don't know that we really follow this as more homiletical but why isn't there you make image when you hear the chauffeur every time you do a message you haven't done in a year you make a broadcast why don't we make when we destroy the comets when we search for the Comets says why because when do you begin preparing for pesach Purim Purim is exactly 30 days before pesach that's right some of them brings it down to open up you open up the laws of pesach you begin to study the laws of pesachuda so you see you're getting ready for pesach as of when applies to some answer so when is the mindfulness when are you already beginning so why the double language so he says where how what those are the physical manifest manifestations what's the darshan shoreline is asking the Goof the darshan is the nashama what's the nashama of pesach why am I doing this what does represent what does matzah represent what is this really all about what am I really doing over here and he elaborates which I won't take the time because we've got to go on but uh really beautiful really beautiful descriptions the only difference between the two is time they're made from the same ingredients they're made from flour and water the only difference is time when you allow time to impact the mixture of flour and water it elevates it's an elevated it swells just like Pride just like arrogance is our ego and our ego is responsible for anger Envy arrogance all these attributes and traits which sabotage our own success when we look for that hummus we're looking for the ego in our life where did our ego lead us astray where did our ego tempt us where did we swell with pride leaven like the hummus isara specifically of the ego the sore the leaven in our in our lives so that's what they all they all say what we're looking for so PESA has a good vanilla we spend so much time with so much money focused on the Goof of pesach we cannot neglect the shama of pesach so we're about to get into the Goof but I at least want to share a few words about the importance of the of the nashama what does that mean you see there's a lot of parallels between Allah a lot of the laws which are unusual that apply to idolatry to getting rid of Zara apply to hamat because the ego in life we worship God we surrender and submit to him or worshiping our ego what we want what we need What We crave what we desire it's our ego for one week a year and for the weeks that preceded for the 30 days that precede it we're focused on evaluating taking stock on our arrogance our ego is it inflated are we filled with pride how can we look for it and it can't be present even a little bit it's also dimashu even in the smallest amount we're supposed to look for our own our own yeah that where do you have to look for comets we're going to get to this in the Goof in the moment a place that you don't bring hamets you don't have to look we'll see this in a moment the halacha so if you've never climbed into the crawl space of your house or the sandwich you don't have to clean there for pesach if you never climbed and sat on a windowsill or on your ceiling fan having a sandwich you don't have to climb on a ladder to clean there for peso we'll see in a moment the halacha is any place you didn't bring comets you don't have to clean but listen to the nashama of that listen to the panemius of the Salah the depth of this Israel he says you know what it means a place you didn't bring comets you didn't have to check it means don't check the people around you they're comets many people go to pesach and they're busy looking for physical comments the spiritual comments in their lives they don't think about but the people around them they heard the drush is arrogance and ego and they say that person should really look for comments look at their ego look at their arrogance look at their Envy look at their anger a place you didn't bring comets you don't need a badika don't look at the other person's comets only look for the Comets in our own lives we don't look for the hummus in other people's lives and he goes through this beautiful state one by one how each of these physical halachas how the laws that pertain to the physical comments each have a symbolism and a depth and a theme they each have an ashama and a peninius to them that are about the attitude we're doing so much more than just looking for comments so I beg you we're going to spend however much time right now going through the kitchen and the ingredients and the cosmetics and the medications and all of the Goof all the physical parts of Hamid don't leave it at that for the 30 days from Purim to pesach we need to learn the halacha but darshan we need to also get into the panemius the kishkas about why we're doing it what is the symbolism the deeper meaning the deeper reasons how can a Transformers look for the comments in our lives don't look for the Comets in other people's lives that's not our job it's also like Zara it can't be present even in the smallest amount and that is all I'll say a third point and then we'll begin yes to attach you know to give significant it actually has significance it's based on it's based on the Kabbalah yeah it's based on these very holy and high ideas again you can learn it he he goes through one by one the sister is number one the first piece of bread person is looking Levato we're trying to nullify and getting rid of the external that's entered our brain we've been influenced and we've been the assimilation the intellectual assimilation of our mind number two is number three it's can ballistic and it goes through some of this is over my head I'm not going to tell you I understand all of it but he has a tradition about the 10 Spiros and the ten pieces of bread and how they correspond and what we're looking for it means that in Judaism it's true for everything you have to hear the chauffeur and there's a Takia and a schwaram and a true and a tequila you got to get it I'm about okay you got to get it right one breath two breaths how long each one lasts there's the a goof is the physical part of the law chauffeur can't be cracked can't have a hole is the physical laws but there's a depth to it what are you thinking about you're coronating the almighty we're at his inauguration so for every holiday in fact for every mitzvah for every deed we do from davening to fell into Shabbos candle lighting there's the Goof there's the physical part of what we're doing and there's an ashama our Generation has so neglected in Hashem of mitzvos We're checklists the Jews check check check it's not just checklist you gotta put a check not only next to the Goof of the Mitzvah gotta put a check next to the nashama of the Mitzvah again now is not the time but it's worth studying a lot more in depth it's worth getting into it's worth getting into this too okay the third last point and then we'll get into the halachas the third and last point is an idea from the malach they just came out with it in English this year it's been out for a while in Hebrew my friends really best are put it out this year in English it's worth getting I think they already had to be printed they ran out so quickly so sought after the best why does he choose the Seder as the time to ask you think about it sit down at the Seder you're reclining you're comfortable you're lying on a couch you're gonna have four cups of delicious expensive wine I you know Yom Kippur asked marvelous who wants to fast for 25 hours this is when the Russia is inspired and motivated to challenge what is all this work for you says or misreading it's apt to say that the Russia asks but he's not asking about the Seder you know what he's asking about everything that led up to the Seder he says for the month before the Seder all I heard you do was Kratz and moan and groan and complain and cry you are miserable you're miserable someone said pesach you broke out in hives you were miserable busy complaining about all that you had to do to clean to prepare takasha to get ready and after hearing the parents complain and yell and not to bring comments anywhere hearing them moan about how hard it is how miserable it is how expensive it is that Russia shows up and says was this all worth it if you feel miserable then I don't want any part of this so what's the message that's not the way it was meant to be what's the message the message is be careful about how we speak and what our children hear from us in this month leading up to pesach the shittier excitement and smiles and joy what a good schmuck what a privilege what a bracha getting rid of the ego I'm getting rid of the Comets come join me it's still together what a privilege what an honor what a gift we're so lucky so the attitude we bring there's so much expense so much so much at risk children who walk away ask them why they'll say my parents were miserable they complained about the expense of being a Jew and how hard it was designed yet it was so if we don't want our children to be challenged or walk away then we need to be thoughtful and we need to be vigilant in the attitude that we give and that we bring okay so those three disclaimers are introductions number one to be censored with the word of the language we use don't talk about being neurotic or OCD those are real issues real diagnoses and if a person doesn't have it don't talk about it because it's not kind it's insensitive it diminishes the person who struggles with it just because it's pesach we shouldn't use that language number two the Goof and the nashama of a Mitzvah you can't just be taken by the Goof of this Mitzvah be focused and mindfulness also and number three The Joy the gishmach the simcha of the mitzvah for every middle that we do because our children will hear we'll hear that the ramaman is Introduction and now we go back to everything I've said every year so God bless you more power to you that you're still here The Rumble in his introduction to the Allah says it's worth causing for me it's worth I'm grateful you're here to listen to me repeated to myself there are three positive Commandments and five negative Commandments when it comes to Muhammad each year when it comes to pesach I should say each year the three positive Commandments are Allah you have to actively destroy the comments that means to say some believe that even if you don't have hummus to get rid of get rid of hummus in some way burn it flush it down the toilet get rid of it number two there's a positive commandment to eat matzah and number three we have to tell the story of sipur you don't just tell the story like check check let's fly through the Haggadah let's get to the eating parts let's get to the meal let's get to the fun Parts you have to tell the story it means there's an ashama to telling a story it's not just the story you have to tell your story we have to see ourselves like we left there are many Holocaust Survivors they didn't talk about it the entire year we have the privilege for many years Martin judevitz every year he'd stop and he would talk about his own experience he tell his story of redemption of liberation of Freedom many of us don't come close we don't have nearly a story but whatever story we have of when we thought that we were addicted enslaved we thought that we were suffering under the servitude of something and how he liberated or freed ourselves or were freed from it tell that story The nashama of the Mississippi those are the three positive there are five negative Commandments number one you can't eat ham number two all seven days in place number three you can't even have a mixture with comets in it something unusual only for pesach number four balira number five you can't even see you can't find someone that you can't eat it or benefit from it he can't even own it it cannot be found in your home hummus is unique for five reasons there are five laws that are unique and distinct I have all this in Mara McComas if you want to see it inside I'm not making up any of it I have other sources I'm happy to share it with any of you but I know this is we want to get to the Practical number one there's a specific law of a specific negative prohibition against any mixture of hummus not only can you not have hamid's proper you can't even have a mixture that contains hummus number two there are two prohibitions against doesn't mean you can't see how much you're allowed to walk down the aisle in Publics you can walk down the aisle in Costco you could see as long as you don't own it you're not allowed to see or no comments can be found that you own so you're not even allowed to own hummus two prohibitions number three there's a positive commandment to dispose of it right normally you don't have to burn or destroy other forbidden foods but it is a positive commandment number four you can't benefit from it so you can't even feed it to your dog we'll get the pets the reason pets are so complicated they say I'm not eating the dog food with the comments in it why can't I feed it to my dog because you own the dog and you're benefiting from giving it to the dog you can't benefit does that mean you have to sell your stock in companies that produce hummus it's a big discussion depends how you understand corporations minority ownership majority ownership stock you own do you have to sell the stock and number five even in the most small amount a negligible amount it is prohibited what is hummus what is the finest comets is anything made of the five types of grains which are wheat spelled barley oats and Rye so flour made from the five types of grain that's mixed with water and that is allowed to sit for 18 minutes and it rises it ferments that is called kidneyos is kidneyos is a medieval prohibition the medieval Ashkenazi rabbis for one of two reasons either because kidneys can be manipulated the flower from kidneys legumes and beans and certain types of nuts the flower that's produced from it can be manipulated into a a uh a food that looks like bread that's one reason that's given by the rishonim the other is they used to store and sell in sacks such beans and legumes and these to weigh the sacks they would bulk it up with flour actually so either of these two reasons the Ashkenazi medieval mishonim accepted Ashkenazi jury accepted not to eat as astringency as a rabbinic Prohibition as a rabbinic stringency sardum never accepted it they kitnios but it is and because it's we have several leniencies when it comes to kidneys which we'll come back to in a in a moment what makes these grains into comets if they're mixed and they remain unmanipulated for 18 minutes results instantly when they're exposed to hot or salted water why why is it after even so Rashi says because says we you know you never eat pork 365 days a year you're not baking you don't have pork we're not worried you're gonna eat it even a little amount the hummus is normally permissible hummus is normally a staple of our diet so therefore we have to be extra vigilant we have to be extra vigilant there's a different reason many reasons are given so how do we get rid of it says Arch Enemy Number One we have to Search and Destroy we have to get rid of it these five unique stringencies the Torah gives us we have a rabbinic stringency to avoid even coming close to eating it called kidneyos at least ashkenazym adopted we have all these stringencies of hamets that's the Goof of the Mitzvah the nashama is we can't tolerate ego in any measure we have to get rid of even a mixture of ego again you can apply all these laws to the nesham and the panemius as it applies to the ego how do we get rid of hummus how do we get rid of it so we have two methods the Michigan one is it works beginning if a person were standing in the middle of the house you don't even have to close your eyes I relinquish my relationship with you it's been a fun ride it's been special I've enjoyed you particularly in forms with sugar but alas all good things come to an end and this relationship must end so a person is a person who declares makes a declaration I relinquish my ownership of this comments all the comments should be like dust and I have no relationship I have no ownership it is not mine does that work would that be enough yes so Midori is biblically speaking if a Jew would stay in the middle of the house or anywhere in the world and would simply say whatever comments is in my possession in my kitchen in my cabinets and my utensils and my bedrooms in my dressers I have no relationship with it I don't own it it is here but like dust of the earth it's hereby ownerless would that work to avoid these prohibitions on pesach absolutely why don't we do that it's good enough why don't we do that alone what else do we do we do bad we search and we destroy why why do we add that level because of the fear that when we end the relationship we don't really mean it and what's the evidence because forget pesach just every time we've gone on a diet how many times have we ended the relationship with the donuts with the potato chips how many times have we ended the relationship with the chocolate and we keep going back to those relationships so you might end that relationship with hummus but you know the middle of pesach and you're starving and that Donuts calling your name you're going to restore you're going to renew the relationship you're going to get back together so it's not good enough to do better because we're afraid we're worried that you're going to go back to the relationship so what do we add Search and Destroy go find it Go eliminate it ask that begs the question now that we've added badika you're going to go searching you're going to destroy why do you start to do Bittle we announced we declare kochamira we make a declaration under my possession it's onerous why do I have to do that I just did a search mission what's the reason in case you didn't find it whatever you didn't find you declare honors and now you've covered all your bases if you didn't find it you don't own it anyway if you did find it you set it aside you destroyed it so that you will not come to renew your relationship with it and eat it we add a third area now we don't have the time we once give a Shabbos about it the history of mahira's comets and how it works we've added a third which is to sell our comments because let's say you say you know I don't want to relinquish my ownership with my Scotch collection and I also am not prepared to pour my Scotch collection down the toilet down the drain I somehow want to maintain my Scotch collection but I'm not allowed to own it it's hummus Manish on pesach so what do I do I can sell it how does that work is in the harama a legal loophole can it remain in my house can I only sell Muhammad's out of my house some of the customers selling even some sell loaves of bread real comets others don't sell any comments they only sell mixtures of hummus different Customs different practices people have if you want to know the OU pesach guide which are available here by the way feel free to take though you pass that guide has a wonderful list they all do star case CRC we'll get to in a moment all the pesos guides have a great list of what's mamish so for example if you don't sell that's your custom then you've got to get rid of your Willis Wheaties are made out of we hence the name with this but your corn flakes you don't have to sell I mean the cornflakes you can sell you don't have to get rid of they're not um checks those kinds of things so if you want to know what's flower it's flower hummus or a lot of self flour it's just flour it's not mixed with water it's not yet you are allowed to sell flour so it could be tricky you could be tricky so if you want to know if you have the custom to not sell real comets and you want to know what's real hummus versus a mixture of hummus check out these guides they have fantastic lists those are the three things that we do when do we begin 30 days before the holiday which was on Purim Charlotte that's why we start then now before we get into the Practical part one last in introduction and that is there is a halacha you have to have simcha there's Allah oh so if you're desire s you gotta comment for the smile you have to come in the end of happy and joyful the mission Buddha rights is a Biblical commandment it's a Biblical Commandment that applies to men and to women so if you're going to come into yunta from all the cleaning and back-breaking labor and you're going to be miserable in fabisana and resentful and angry and projecting a negative attitude by yiddishkite whatever stringency you try to keep about pesach you're going to be violating the biblical commandment to be happy you have to be happy you have to be happy so that's when I get into my polemic I say it every year I saw recently online somebody made fun of me for it but now I get into my polemic about the difference between spring cleaning and pesos cleaning do not confuse halacha with your spring cleaning you want to spring clean do it in July or August do it in November December do it some of the time of the year and do not blame the rabbis do not blame the Torah do not blame our religion do not blame our religion if you are on a ladder you're spring cleaning you're not cleaning for pesach if you're on your hands and knees you're spring cleaning you're not cleaning for pesach if you have toothpicks or toothbrushes out you're spring cleaning you're not cleaning from pesach cleaning from paystock would not demand any of those things and those are all that give you the aches and the pains and the misery so the misery is coming from what you're choosing to do that has nothing to do with halaka and nothing to do with this holiday do not blame God religion yiddishkite Torah halacha or the rabbis yes it's my polemic I won't apologize for it until we drill it home this is not mine I didn't invent it this is not new and modern or scheinberg zatzal wrote a whole guide rid of scheinberg emphasized and drove this home over and over and over again that if you know and if you follow what the actual halaka is then you will not drive yourself crazy you will clean for pesach and not do more than that so what is the guide what do you need to know any search here are the prerequisites for the search of the hummus in the home and with this is when I get in trouble every year it should take not your kitchen outside of your kitchen it should take less than a day to get your house ready for pesach if you're cleaning for pesach not spring cleaning it's the part where my mother starts yelling at me but too bad this is the if you're if you're doing cleaning for pesach not spring cleaning why why because you can look it all up inside Michigan if you find on pesach or let me go backwards what is that you need to get rid of which type of comets do you need to get rid of so the following if during the year hummus is not brought into a place there's no need for it to be checked or cleaned on pesach you can look all over quotes you have to check any place that you have to worry the comments came so if you didn't bring comments ever into your garage into that room into that cabinet into that crawl space on that windowsill if you never moved an appliance and sat behind a native sandwich if you never moved the bookcase or a dresser and sat behind the native sandwich if nebuch your bookcase hasn't been touched in 10 years and is gathering dust because you're so busy watching Netflix you ever read a book since you've been a child then you do not need to check it for comments it's not me is there now all bets are off if you have young children quotes if you have young children who can bring Hermits anywhere in the house now everywhere might have the status of a place that you might have brought comets but if you know you're an adult you don't have little children living in the house or your little children are incredibly disciplined and live in fear they know they can't carry around comets because pay stock is coming up as of Rosh Hashanah so then any place you didn't bring Hamid you don't have to check that's Allah number one you understand how much we've just eliminated of cleaning for pesach so if you're not in the habit of bringing hummus into your sweater drawer your sweater drawer doesn't need to be clean for pesach if you're not in the habit of putting hummus on the bookshelf you're not you don't have to check them for pesach number one number two if not used on pesach if you don't plan on interacting accessing or using it on pesach you do not need to check it or clean it all you need to do is seal it and put it away so if you don't plan on going into a room over pesach you know you clean it for pesach this is so fun this is my job in our house you close the door you put a piece of tape across it voila the room is clean for pesach you're going to take your KitchenAid you're going to take your mixer you're going to take your blender you're going to take your bread maker you're going to take all these appliances your toaster oven all the appliances that you're not going to use on pesach don't take out a toothpick don't take out a toothbrush don't sit and go crazy trying to clean every crack and crevice you know what you're going to do you're gonna put it in a box put a piece of tape over it voila they're ready for pesach you're gonna put it in a cabinet or a closet I'm the tape guy in my house I take the tape under a pesach I walk around the whole kitchen with your favorite I tell it which cabinets are we using which are we not tape tape tape tape tape tape tape house is ready for pesach it's unbelievable tape up the cabinets and take up tape up the the dressers tape up the rooms tape up the areas anything that you're not going to access or use over pesach simply needs to be taped covered closed and it is ready assuming you're selling your comets whatever hummus might be found in it is sold it's sold crumbs rule number three again we just we just narrowed it down even further how much time it should take you to clean your whole house any area didn't go you don't have to clean any area you won't access any item you won't touch so for example a playroom if you do have kids in your house you have a playroom it has lots of toys kids like to eat snacks while they play with their lots of toys all the toys and the toy chest often has comets you could kill yourself trying to get the playroom and the toys ready for pesach you know it's a much better way you take the toy chest or you take a big box you throw all the toys in them and you put a piece of tape over it and you put it away and now you ready for pesach hi what will the kids play with you buy another box and you buy five toys and then your pesach toys and every year that's what they play with the pesach toys and by the way they had 400 hummus toys they were bored of they were sick of they never played with five toys you bought for pesach they will look forward every year be so excited countdown I'll tell you another secret don't even buy a toy just give them a cardboard box and that'll be the best toy they ever played with how often do you buy a kid a toy and they're more excited about the box that came in than the toy itself too many options there's no fun narrow them down it becomes fun all over again but if a person knows if you're empowered with the knowledge of knowing the halacha you can really eliminate so much of the backbreaking labor and narrow it down enormously rule number three crumbs that are inedible even by a dog are not hamits if base if crumbs that are inedible to a dog they do not constitute even if they're bigger than a kazayas even bigger than a kazais because ice is 30 grams what we would call hummus food I guess it's inaudible so it's not food an item bigger than 30 grams made from the five grains but inedible to a dog is so often what's under or behind the refrigerator or the stove with stale or moldy or a dog wouldn't eat then it's not even comments no need to check if Crumbs are less than a cause ice and dirty or soiled spoiled so that they are nifs writes that there's no need to check if you have crumbs less than 30 grams and they're dirty so a human being wouldn't eat them then there's no need to even check for them so again what's behind the oven or stove or refrigerator for so much so what are we looking for what does need to be cleaned on pesach only exposed hamits are you going to access only crumbs that are edible or more than a kazayas and not edible or edible to a dog so we've just narrowed down enormously what it takes you walk around your house so a person normally I hope cleans their house you normally vacuum a carpet you normally sweep a floor you normally don't have grains breads bigger than a kazaised and edible sitting around because they will rot and they'll spoil and they'll get disgusting anyway so what does it take this is comets you walk around the house you open a few drawers you look inside you look at the counter you look where you may have stuck some snacks in you know when when you shouldn't have and you just confirm that there's no comments in the room and the kitchen you walk around with tape and you start taping up the cabinets and the areas and the appliances that you're not going to be using over pesach and those areas are now ready they're now ready in that way so enormously we have limited and narrowed and the amount of time it should take to clean for pesach so outside of the kitchen which also has the time it will take to cash her outside the kitchen it should not take long to clean the rest of the house for pesos any questions so far the um no you don't have to sell it it's not real comets you don't have to sell it you mentioned in terms of society but in terms of what's the definition of hamets if it's bigger than a kazais but inevitable to a dog it's less than a kazais but inedible to a human being it's so kazayas is relevant in terms of ineditability if that's a word is that a word I know inedible is a word but in that ability it's not we just made it up we just made it up introduce this year for pesach a new word in edibility okay any questions about cleaning the house let's move over to the kitchen now the truth is we can really end here and I can take questions I'm happy to go through the whole kitchen and Cash Ring it's the same as it is every year which I'm happy to review again but I do want to alert you forget me we have phenomenal when did these workshops mean the most before the internet before apps and smartphones before organizations put out guides that you could print which were incredible when I was younger I remember no one knew anything what to do and you had to go ask the rabbi about everything every ingredient every food every Appliance today I can tell you the rabbi is getting it all from these guides so I'm more than happy to help you and confirm it and assure you and reassure you but if you want to skip that step you should feel free to go directly so what are those guides there's a handy handout over here if you want to take one for where to find them they are these guys over here if you're looking you can see it right here it's a list there's the BRS sale of comet's form you can find on the beerus website mostly eat them donations we're going to be doing our prepay stock pay what you want Market again today South Florida come pay stock is incredibly prohibitively expensive for many everyone's invited obviously for those who need it okay only what you want but the three guides I can't recommend highly enough the OU guide excellent excellent excellent excellent clear concise incredible lists the star k guide excellent clear concise amazing lists and the CRC guide now they all three also have apps you don't have to walk around with paper we can save the trees if you have a smartphone we are neither endorsing or criticizing smartphones right now but if you have a smartphone you have to say everything these days if you have a smartphone use it responsibly get a filter because if you have a smartphone download CRC App Store K app and OU app they have up-to-date information they're searchable they're frequently asked questions they're an incredible incredible guide they're where I go and the questions when you have the questions that you're asking so you can't make pesach without them they have everything from cosmetics and medications to ingredient lists to kidneys questions to kosher and clarifications to Coffee to lists for pet food how to feed your pets on pesach their incredible incredible lists so do you want to go through the kitchen do you have questions that you want to ask in general do you want to read the guide on your own let's go through the kitchen quickly remind everybody how to okay let's go through the kitchen so there are some deviations between them because otherwise you know why would we need all these cashless organizations they agree on overwhelmingly most things they disagree on a few things so you can check them but I'm going to relate to you my opinion or my conclusion or my teachers my Minnesota on these issues so let's start with the refrigerator refrigerator should be cleaned carefully the freezer should be left to defrost so that any bread or Bagel or grain that was frozen into the frost on the refrigerator can defrost the accordion door should be cleaned carefully one of the ways when you can't get in carefully everywhere to nevertheless get rid of the hummus problem is to use a caustic spray take a bleach or a caustic spray spray around the rubber accordion of the refrigerator freezer door if you can't get into it no need to use a toothpick because then you've made it inedible to a human and to a dog and we already saw inedible is only that which is edible inedible that's why by the way every year they produce it the CRC has this wonderful letter at the opening of its guide that is signed by all the major abundant in uh from Chicago and any cosmetic which is an edible you don't have to worry about so that's like 90 of Cosmetics they're inedible so that you don't have to worry about are they pesos anything inedible is not a candidate to be hummus so when you spray caustic spray you eliminate the edibility of it and therefore it is not and therefore it is um lining the refrigerator the miniature soil is to lie in the refrigerator you don't really need to if you've cleaned it carefully and it's all cold there's no possibility the transfer of taste so why is that important because on the one end we maintain the Min hug the minute you throw is to line it should line it paper towel something else on the other hand you don't have to drive yourself crazy you don't have to do arts and crafts and start to take together paper towel to make sure you get every square millimeter of the refrigerator shelf generally put down a piece of paper towel and let the food sit on it but don't drive yourself crazy in lining the refrigerator and the refrigerator shelves that is the refrigerator let's move over to countertops depends on what material your countertop is made out of we pass again we I we that you can capture not only stone and granite you can cash your formica formica that has cracks and crevices where helmets can get in is a problem that should be covered but the other smooth area of formica can be captured how do you capture it how do you cash a granite quartz resin how do you con and each of these CRC star kou have lists of every type of countertop that's possible and whether they can be captured or not captured if they can't be captured obviously they should be covered if they can be cashed they can be captured how are they captured so how did the countertop absorb the rule when it comes to Consciousness is cabolo carpalto the way it absorbed is the way it's perched the same manner or mechanism that a taste was absorbed is the same way that you purge it of that taste if it was transferred through heat then you get it out through heat through liquid through liquid through Steam through Steam through pickling through pickling however it absorbs the taste is how you purge it how did a countertop absorb taste eerooi because something spilled on it so how do you get it out by spilling by casting with irregular so you heat water in a pot it can be any kind of pot some of the minions have a special place but it could be any part of milk here's the thing it has to be a pot that wasn't used for 24 hours any clean pot that wasn't used for 24 hours can be used to cash her how do you cash her you bring the water to a rolling boil sounds like rolling boil so you bring the water to a rolling boil then you take the pot and you pour it along the countertop you can't just splash it you can't stand on this side and pour into the water runs along the whole counter Because by the time it gets the end of the counter it's cold water you're not actually cautioning so you have to walk with the pot as you're pouring it along the countertop be very careful wear gloves and I tell you from experience wear shoes be very very careful when you caution the countertop the water has to be boiling hot Mala Babu is bubbling and you can't Splash it you have to walk with it along the countertop many in my home when we redid our kitchen now many years ago my wife decided that I was no longer going to be casturing that way because the water runs down and into the cabinets and they can warp and they can destroy it so there's a custom I see this every year I grew up my parents covered their counter and even though we had a white countertop from like a countertop we had these laminated boards with they were laminated with a blue laminated paper and the kitchen looked like a pasta kitchen I vividly remember vividly remember and I get like emotionally connected to the image of pesach growing up when we would go to the basement carry those up cover the counters and then now look like the pesoth kitchen and I remember mote pesach when everyone else got to go get pissed off but pizza but you had to first turn over the kitchen and take those covers off the counters it then went back to looking like our regular kitchen there's a merit there's there's Merit to even when you some are strict to cover them and cash for them you don't need to do that certainly it's excessive but them some have that custom but there's Emeritus saying you know what I'm not sure I'm in a car Crasher entirely correctly I want to cover it or I don't want to destroy my kitchen and warp the cabinets I'm going to cover it and I can tell you offline but go to Home Depot Lowe's you can buy you can't just put down tinfoil in the counters can't put down something too thin without koshering first so you need to get something that has some thickness some significance to it but if you spend the money to cut it to your kitchen once and you save it your kitchen will take on the pesach kitchen look it will look different I don't mean the pace of kitchen the people who have a second kitchen for pesach but I mean your ordinary pigeon kitchen now looks like a kitchen for pesach and there's a there's a value there's an emotional connection you're embedding memories into your family into your children there's something there's a value to that to that too so if you want to know whether your counter is eligible for cash or you're not you can look in the guide it has all the lists of what is or what isn't I think most of you know by now can you use a steamer get asked that every year can you use a steamer the Casher so the answer is to kosher it has to be with water you can't cash your emotions with steam you have to cash over the water and number two the water has to be out so let us know it has to be a water that's capable of caution even higher yeah has to be a water that's capable of caution the problem with most Steamers the steamer you're going to buy it Bed Bath and Beyond that's going to take the wrinkles out of your dress or your suit this problem with that steam is when the steam comes out by the time it condenses to water it's no longer hot it's cold if you were to run that steamer along the counter by the time that steam condense to water which is what you need to cash her it's cold there are industrial steamers but first of all your counter is covered in water by the end so it might as well pour the water and they're expensive and most people don't have them so the ordinary steamer that the average consumer can get is not is not eligible it's not good for for cash run supporting boiling water is the way that we cash her or covering the counters is the way we caution sinks let's move over to sinks again just let me know if you have any questions sinks and the guides are very creative I think about the OU and the CRC and into the star K1 they've got a picture of a kitchen that's how they do it very adorable they got a picture of the kitchen and they walk you through the picture of the kitchens whatever it is in here here's the OU one right everything in the kitchen so it sinks depends on what your sink is made out of can you caution the the sink stainless steel sink is ero you pour the boiling water again the way that it absorbs is the way it's removed how did the sink absorb from its taste through pouring something in it how do you get it out by pouring boiling water in it remove the drain ideal to replace the drain if you can't replace the drain clean it very carefully or maybe take the drain the filter out put it in a box tape my favorite tape put it away for pesach because it's hard to capture the drain if you're not going to replace it and then you take boiling water and you walk around the sink again don't just splash walk around the sink pour the boiling water across the surfaces of the stainless steel sink if you have a faucet over the faucet the faucet comes out pull it out and cover it across the faucet now before you cash or any of these things you have to clean it well and leave it 24 hours why because 24 hours we say no sin time of gum every taste after 24 hours is a stale taste I'm not going to get into this right now it's complicated but strictly speaking after 24 hours everything is kosher everything is part of everything returns to neutral we are strict to say we don't really know when exactly the clock started did you really hit 24 hours so we treated we have certain rules in certain principles but one of the ways that we kosher is by cleaning well and leaving 24 hours so you're already starting at a sort of biblically speaking neutral now when you caution in addition to that you're helping even more so clean the sink leave it well 24 hours clean the counter leave it carefully 24 hours best time takasha is on a Mote Shabbos it's in my house at least what we do because you clean everything really well on Friday and on Shabbos you can try to avoid using the counter the oven the stove the microwave gets its 24 hours sinks a little more complicated over shopping she's all serving meals unless you have a sink you could use in your in your whatever other room and uh and then you can cash this is just a little tip a little hack so that is the sink if the sink is made out of ceramic it cannot be castured the sink is made out of ceramic should not be used for hot for 24 hours should be clean and dry and then covered sync insert a basin something put inside the sink stainless steel can be captured a ceramic sink cannot be cashed so far so good microwaves honey cash or microwave how did the microwave absorb so if the microwave has a glass tray the glass has to be removed a glass glass cannot be cautioned for pesach there's a glass tray in the microwave it has to be removed how do you Castle the rest of the microwave so how did it absorb taste through Steam so it absorbed through Steam you get it after steam clean the microwave well there's often a filter the area where the light is to clean it very carefully use something caustic if you can't get in there entirely clean the microwave very well leave for 24 hours remove the glass tray and now put a microwave safe vessel a bowl or a cup inside and run it for 10 minutes until it produces Steam for the Chamber of the microwave and Contours it then fill it again put it in a different spot and run it again for 10 minutes why do you have to do that because the spot where the bowl was the first time didn't get captured you could cash your piecemeal you could cash it in separate parts so put a bowl or a spoon or a or a cup Run 10 minutes till it fill steam then fill it again move it so now you're crushing the spot where it was the first run that's how you cash your a microwave okay questions no I love this crowd you guys are the best moving over to ovens how do you cash out the oven if it is a self-clean oven you do not need to wait 24 hours why because we have different standards of cashew in the sagala this is burning cow is um is a lower level of heat hagala's boiling eeroy is pouring boiling water so libon Gomer which is the hottest form let's say a blow torch or fire or intense heat is the highest form of cashewan it can obliterate so there you don't even need to wait the 24 hours if you have a self-cleaning oven run the self-clean cycle and if it reaches that top temperature some people say you know their self-cleaned off and shuts off early it has an automatic shut off doesn't last the entire cycle if it reaches that top temperature you have produced libon gum or if you're not sure if your self-clean is working properly so then clean the oven well leave it for 24 hours and then run the self clean because then minimally you're cautioning it even if it didn't have a self-clean if you doubt whether the self-clean really obliterates and reaches that level of heat I recommend try the following experiment I don't recommend it but I've seen it with my own eyes if you put a wooden spoon in your self-clean and run this off clean you'll find a pile of Ash on the bottom of the oven that's how intense the heat gets that's how intense the heat gets that is a self-cleaning oven what about a non-self cleaning oven non-self cleaning oven clean all the surfaces the wall the floor the door the racks use the cost to cleaner like easy off wait 24 hours and then with the racks in the oven run the oven for on the highest temperature for an hour so wait 20 clean it well wait 24 hours and run the temperature on the highest temperature for an hour what about warming drawers can warming drawers be cashiered here's our first mahlocus oh you says no CRC says yes I like the CRC here's Akasha warming drawer clean it well leave it 24 hours and then you put a Sterno inside of it which can Elevate the Heat and you leave it a little bit of Jar you have to leave it a little bit open light one can of chafing dish fuel in the warming drawer being sure to use a can filled with ethanol or methanol make sure to leave the door of the warming draw slightly ajar it'll be enough air to allow for combustion allow the can to burn for two hours as with all caution before you begin the warming drawer must be thoroughly cleaned and not used for 24 hours so the CRC holds a woman drawer can be captured and that is the method of how to do it no that's a good question why not you do not need to probably because yeah I don't know that's a good question because the level of heat even underneath of it underneath it yeah in the case of the microwave the steam won't reach under the cup but in the case of the warming drawer the heat will reach underneath the sternum or the chafing dish fuel we shouldn't give credit to one brand shouldn't favor one brand apparently there are many Brands okay so we covered refrigerators and freezers we covered countertops we covered ovens and warming drawers we covered um sinks what's left is stove tops stove tops how do you cash your stovetop so a stovetop the old-fashioned gas one with a metal grate um over Open Flame you caution the following all parts of the stovetop should be thoroughly cleaned including scraping residual food from the surface the catch tray don't use it for 24 hours the fire or coil should be turned to its maximum temperature for 30 minutes you can cash your burners one at a time and then you cover everything underneath the burner so if you have a gas range or electric cover all the area underneath the tuna including the catcher area underneath leave it on the highest setting till it glows or a gas one for 30 minutes the burners cover the knobs or caution the knobs by putting them in boiling water and that is how you do a gas range or a electric stove until it burns glows red yes they can you can either leave them there you don't have to you can leave them on top you can cash them on top of the range the challenge is if you have a you sometimes have four separate burners and they have four separate crates or you have we have where they like run in between there's a fancy name for them anyone know what that's called yeah no yeah but it's just the two there's one crate that runs over two and over two so the easiest way to capture those is take them off and put them in the self-clean oven and run through the self-clean it will often discolor so be prepared for the discoloration and we'll discolor them it's a small price to pay for being a yield so uh you can do that the knobs catch tray all areas should be covered or the knobs can be cautious as I said by putting them in boiling water what about the glass top what about the glass top stove the glass top stove so leave all the burners on high don't do them simultaneously you'll break the glass leave them each on high till they burn and glow red some say poor boiling water across the glass not when the burners have been on because then you'll crack it but an additional layer though you're not obligated the main thing is don't put anything down on the glass in between the areas of the burners someone showed me this morning they came out with um something that you could put across a glass top stove and put the pots on top of it it's not flammable it doesn't burn so if you could do that as a barrier on top then you'd be good to go put it across a I have to look more carefully at it what it is yeah you have to cover with aluminum foil clean it leave it 24 hours cover it with aluminum foil cover yeah underneath it underneath it underneath it and up the back a little bit because the backsplash also needs to be when we talked about counters you also have to cash your backsplash either covering it or the splashing of water there because the backsplash pots often can rub up against or sit up against the backsplash so I'm told so you have to cash the backsplash as well okay any other thing in the kitchen that we didn't cover yet pots and pans silverware so you can caution yes Linda until they glow don't do them all simultaneously you're not obligated to but some people also when it's cool will pour boiling water across the surface of the glass top as well as an additional layer and the key is not to put anything down on area between the burners on pesach if you have a pot whose circumference is bigger than the burner that's okay but otherwise don't put a spoon or a lid or the pot down in the area between the burners no you'll break it if you do unless you this new substance I have to take a closer look at it that can be used to cover it could be a great solution for all glass top stoves could be vent should be cleaned carefully yeah the vent should be cleaned and caustically sprayed you don't have to caution it but it should be cleaned especially for the microwave you can okay for those watching online apparently online you can find replaceable vents for the microwave even over an oven sometimes it's easier to replace these things for example electric mixers food processors and blenders we generally pass in you have to have a paystock version of them that even if you just replace the parts it's not enough since they're intricate and small and they have cracks and comets gets in they have to be replaced tablecloths tablecloths depends what they're made of fabric tablecloths can simply be run through the wash they run through the wash they're eligible for pesach vinyl tablecloths are not you need a version of your vinyl tablecloth but fabric ones can simply run through the wash and you're good to go flatware silver stainless steel plastic can be cautioned again you take a pot that hasn't been used in 24 hours you bring water to a rolling boil and you put them in you can't put so much in that it will lose the boil rolling boil and you can't put so much in that you lose 60 a ratio of 60 in the water against the silverware so you put in a little bit at a time you take them out you put them in the mini just to put them under cold water right afterwards that is how you caution we're going to have cash ring at the shoe in the parking lot if you want to bring your utensils Kiddush cups and the like to be able to cash her here I think with that we covered the kitchen any other questions about the kitchen we covered the kitchen okay better not to it will not reset the clock if you did but we put tape like a big X across the sink don't put anything in it don't pour anything in it don't disturb this sink at all question was if you put cold water in the sink does that reset the 24 hour clock then the answer is no when it comes to different ingredients again I can read to you four million ingredients but that's not a good use of your my time use the apps they're fantastic when you're going shopping they're the greatest thing you're in the store you could put it in it'll tell you either needs codasher for pay stock certification this type does not this one does for example coffee ground or whole bean unflavored decaffeinated you need to use a certain list decaffeinated needs to be kosher for pesach there are some caffeinated coffees instant coffees that are automatically Folgers Nescafe via regular via Starbucks Via some of those are okay automatically without I didn't memorize them I don't know them I didn't check on them I'm looking at the same list as you go on the CRC go on the OU go on the star k they're all fantastic they have great lists so every year there are things that come up which coffees are okay which coffees are not okay um CRC is strict with Seltzer and the OU I think is more lenient when it comes to Seltzer I think it's the OU certify products that do not require oup and on that list is where did Seltzer go why is it in here yeah water unflavored it's a long list so there's big discussions so refer to these lists and they're fantastic which team decaffeinated caffeinated eggs and milk should be bought before pesach eggs and milk should be purchased before pesach that's true for Lactaid milk as well should buy enough before pesos if you run out go to the Grove or Aroma because muslima they bought before pesach if it's being served it's being sold in a in a place that's under supervision if you ran it on pesach you can get from there what are the questions medicines any pill that you swallow that you need is not a food take it do not stop taking it because I take medicines I know I don't look old enough just joking I look very much old enough I'm not old enough but I take a lot of medicines I take them on pesach don't play with them don't start switching them vitamins are a different story if your vitamins don't appear on a list star k is the best list when it comes to medications and vitamins if your vitamins don't appear on the list then go a week without the vitamins but medicines do not do not uh discontinue infant formula again they're great lists here non-food items the following items do not need to be kosher for pesach get asked a lot about this every year too aluminum foil aluminum foil baking pans bags paper or plastic cups paper plastic or styrofoam deodorants detergents dishwashing detergents drain openers fabric protectors glass cleaners hair gel sprays or mousse hair removal insecticides lotions laundry detergents jewelry polish plates paper plastic or styrofoam paper towels napkins oven cleaners suntan lotion water filters all of these do not need to be kosher for pesach none of them are edible they're all okay you hear that napkins paper towels cups plates aluminum foil water filters shaving cream soaps shampoos it's all okay all okay without being Kosher for pasta okay so any other questions wow you've been a great audience thank you so much for coming yes great right question as far as hosting an Ashkenazi and pesach they won't serve them kidneys but do they need to know about anything and Ashkenazi is allowed to eat out of utensils that kidneys had been used in since kidneys are not coming but we're not strict about the utensils so in Ashkenazi generally speaking different people have different practices but generally speaking an Ashkenazi can eat out of the utensils that not the home of asphardi if they're not eating actual kidneys okay you've been wonderful wishing everyone you know people wish should not only because it should be happy don't forget the Goof and then the shamba of pesach have a fantastic day