Please see Halacha Guide, relevant to the month of Nissan and Pesach: http://bit.ly/LCPesach
And a Guide for Eruv Tavshilin, performed this year on Wednesday, Erev Pesach: http://bit.ly/EruvTav
You will note that the Halacha Guide is not perfectly typeset, leaving some blank space on the last page. Furthermore, the Pesach Guide contains a link which currently points to last year's Sefirah Guide, and it may be another week or two until that link will point to this year's Sefirah Guide. It is not a time for perfectionism. It's a time to be content with getting the job done effectively, without fretting the semantics. Please do the same as you Pesach clean. (On that note, see message below.)
May we celebrate the ultimate זמן חרותנו today!
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Coronavirus, Chumros and the Pesach Clean
"These are very unusual times…" begins every email in my inbox, a reminder from every company whose services I have ever (or never?) used.'Tis so.
As if we didn't know.
As you forge ahead with Pesach preparations, please, I IMPLORE YOU to get your priorities straight. Number One is the health and happiness of your family unit. Trust me, your children will remember this period of time forever, and its effects will linger far beyond 2020. Take care of THEM more than worrying about peeling your Pesach tomatoes. This is a Chinuch opportunity like you never had. As the proverbial saying goes, don't make THEM the Korban Pesach.
Adjust expectations. Personally, if I will have Shmurah Matzah and wine, I will be content. I am reassured in the knowledge that our good Aussie mates are not stockpiling those products. My children's Mah Nishtana will be way more succulent than any meat I may or may not have, and I won't be closely examining my Gefilte fish to see if it was processed (the horror!) instead of homemade.
Find out what Pesach cleaning REALLY requires. (One resource for that: kollelmenachem.com.au/Pesach.) If you can do the full run as you would any other year, that's great. But if your homebound family makes that impossible, don't worry about it! As long as you are conforming with Halacha, that is what is required.
If you're a Chumra person, be realistic of what is doable this year. And if you really insist, don't dump the burden of it on your spouse or parent. If you believe in it so much, then its DIY.
I am not suggesting Chumros aren't important. They are. And whatever you can realistically keep while maintaining calm and order, you SHOULD keep. But I am also suggesting that your health and sanity, as well as that of your entire family, is far more important.
In all likeliness, a lot more of Pesach will fall into place than you imagine right now. Your calm and cheer will facilitate that. But even if it doesn't, well then … "These are very unusual times…" begins every email in my inbox, a reminder from every company whose services I have ever (or never?) used.
May we all have a Kosher un Freilichen Pesach Clean.
Rabbi Shmuel Lesches
We are grateful to Rabbi Shmuel Lesches of Young Yeshivah for sharing this with us.
- Yeshivah Shule