Passover Cleaning and Jewish Extremes

[genkisan]

I don't know how many fellow wily Hebrews there are here in ICmag, and how many of those actually do the Passover thing seriously, but if you do, my sympathies go out to you.

I am in the middle of the insane top-to-bottom house scouring and cleansing commonly refered to as Passover cleaning.....the object being to rid every square inch of my house of every possible morsel of 'leaven' or 'chametz' (in hebrew), the definition of which is more complicated and rule bound than you can possibly imagine. And I don't do it nearly as extreme as some....I kow folks who have a separate Passover kitchen (just to make sure) which they use for 8 days a year.

While I do appreciate the institution of an enforced annual house cleaning (usually after it is all done), whilst in the middle of it I am less than pleased....hee hee hee.


I guess it is a way of symbolizing the slavery in Egypt.....first, we work like slaves all week to make the house ready for Passover....then we are free....lol.


So for anyone out there banishing 'chametz' and making ready fer Passover, my heartfelt solidarity goes out to you.
And for all you non-hebrews wondering why we put ourselves thru this silliness.....yes, I agree it makes no sense, but then again, most things religious and dogmatic don't....at least on a surface level.

While the rules and regulations are extreme and meticulous, the effect of doing the Passover preparation thing is a fabulously clean house for spring, and a real feeling of renewal and freshness for the coming spring and summer seasons. It's kinda like yer washing and cleaning away winter.

Once Passover is finished, one really feels spring is here.....

 

[Nikijad4210]

Sounds like my mom cleaning the house on any given day of the week throughout the year.

 

[genkisan]

I am at present taking ALL my dishes out of ALL my cupboards in the kitchen, washing both the dishes and the cupboards, and putting everything back.

The pantry is next for the same treatment, then I scour the oven and wash the ceiling.

 

[Nikijad4210]

Yep, my mom would do that. Just to turn around and bitch at someone for so much as touching something.

 

[genkisan]

Yep, my mom would do that. Just to turn around and bitch at someone for so much as touching something.

Gevalt!!

I would NOT have done well in yer Mom's house........at all.

 

[PazVerdeRadical]

niki, you lived with my mom too?


have a good passover genki, and smoke a spliff


peace

 

[Tarkus]

Man, I really grew up in a dirty household. And my mom is definitely not Jewish. It is not like I lived in squaller, it just wasn't the most picked up house on the block. My room is/was a horrible mess. I swear it would be better just to burn the house down than try to pick up my room. I end up keeping too much crap anyways.

I didn't know about Passover Cleaning. I kinda figured ya'll did that so when you invite yer mom over for Passover she would not flip out about a dirty house.

 

[marx2k]

If your mother doesn't feel that she has done enough to clean for passover, she can certainly start working on my pad as well. Just keep the goat's blood off my door, I don't have any firstborns for Jaweh to take.

 

[Guest]

I'm not Jewish, but by the way I Spring clean, you'd think I was. Meh Poor kitchen, totally stripped apart and being redone. - For your amusement: It started with the kitchen sink faucet sprayer. It broke. So instead of fixing it, we decided - let's get a new one with a complete new faucet. Installed that....hmmm, you know, we could do with a new sink. I never liked that shallow stainless steel one. So, We choose a nice slate one and I install that. Uh oh, the countertop totally clashes with the new sink. Wheeee, new countertops - slate granite to match the sink. Eeeew, those old cabinets look awful with the awesome countertops. hehehe, yes staining new oak cabinets and presently deciding on what flooring to put down now before I change the old cabinets with the new ones.

Who knows what's going to happen if I discover a hole in the window screens - may end up with new siding.

But beyond my amusing home improvements. Every stitch of carpeting has been steam cleaned, walls being scrubbed and painted. Items being pulled out of everywhere and being washed - even things stuff in the back of closets. Pull it out and clean it. I must be seriously obsessive-compulsive - I hate filth and use Spring as an excuse to clean everything.

 

[James Morrison]

jesus is the passover

 

[guineapig]

Short version http://www.casperstartribune.net/art.../d8o4hd8o0.txt

Israel Group Nixes Pot on Passover



By MATTI FRIEDMAN Tuesday, March 27, 2007
JERUSALEM - In bad news for its religious Jewish supporters, an Israeli pro-marijuana party announced Tuesday that pot is forbidden on Passover.

Cannabis is among the substances Jews are forbidden to consume during the week-long festival, which begins Monday, said Michelle Levine, a spokeswoman for the Green Leaf party.

Biblical laws prohibit eating leavened foods during Passover, replacing bread with flat crackers called matza. Later injunctions by European rabbis extended those rules to forbid other foods like beans and corn, and more recent rulings have further expanded the ban to include hemp seeds, which today are found in some health oils _ and in marijuana.

Green Leaf is a small political party that supports the legalization of marijuana. Although it is by no means a Jewish religious authority, the group decided to warn its observant supporters away from the drug on Passover.
"You shouldn't smoke marijuana on the holiday, and if you have it in your house you should get rid of it," Levine said. The edict was first reported in The Jerusalem Post.

But not everyone needs to give up their habit for the duration of the festival. The rabbinic injunctions banning hemp were never adopted by Sephardic Jews, who come from countries in the Middle East and North Africa. That means there is no reason they can't keep smoking marijuana, Levine said, except that it remains illegal, despite her party's best efforts.

Green Leaf contested the last three national elections but never won a seat, despite gaining popularity as a protest vote. According to Levine, the party has a large number of religious supporters.

A service of the Associated Press(AP)


The long version

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satelli...cle/ShowFull

Is marijuana kosher for Pessah?
Sheera Claire Frenkel, THE JERUSALEM POST Mar. 27, 2007Every Sunday school student knows Pessah for its ban on food that rises, but a growing number of Jews are asking whether the holiday also precludes them from getting high.
Hemp has increasingly been spotted on the list of kitniyot, or legumes, that Ashkenazi Jews abstain from eating during Pessah, according to several influential rabbinical Web sites, including kashrut.com. But not everyone agrees that hemp qualifies for the ban, and the debate has led many to question the definition of kitniyot.
While hemp isn't a kitchen staple for most people, hemp oil can be found in a number of hygiene products and in some alternative baked goods. But it's hemp's more notorious cousin, commonly known as marijuana, that has set the sparks flying. As debate over the kitniyot tradition has gathered steam among rabbinic circles, many are looking at hemp as a case in point of why the practice of abstention needs to be reexamined.
The ban on kitniyot during Pessah began because rabbis were concerned that certain legumes would come into contact with the grains forbidden during the holiday. Farmers often grew wheat and rice in adjacent fields, and families frequently stored all of their grains and legumes in the same containers. The kitniyot tradition only applies to Jews of Ashkenazi descent, since Sephardic Jewry never adopted the practice.
Of the dozen rabbis whom The Jerusalem Post questioned on this issue, none offered a conclusive statement about how hemp should be classified for Pessah. As Rabbi Daniel Kohn of Bat Ayin explained, the issue ultimately boils down to an individual decision by each rabbi about whether hemp seeds themselves could be considered edible. If a rabbi decides that the seeds are edible, then hemp - and, by extension, marijuana - would not be considered permissible for Pessah.
Israel's Green Leaf Party ("Aleh Yarok") said it was not taking any chances. Following an inquiry by the Post, a spokeswoman for the party said the group was sending out an e-mail to members warning them about hemp's possible kashrut problems.
"We are warning our people not to eat anything with hemp products if they follow the practice of kitniyot on Pessah," said party spokeswoman Michelle Levine. "We are considering announcing a ban on everything containing hemp just to be on the safe side. We are going with the rabbis on this. People should remove all cannabis and hemp from their homes."
Levine said one of the party's main arguments for cannabis legalization was biblical references to it.
"We would like to ask people... if it's listed as not kosher 'for Pessah,' [doesn't] that mean it must be kosher the rest of the year?" said Levine.
Hemp's tricky Pessah status has caused the first marital rift for Daniel and Sarah, who recently moved to Jerusalem from Chicago. The newlyweds, who asked not to use their last name, said they had just finished their Pessah cleaning when a friend asked them if he could buy the rest of their marijuana.
"We just had no idea what he meant. It turns out he was buying it from a lot of his observant friends so that they wouldn't have it in the house, [like] hametz," said Sarah. "We aren't habitual users, but we certainly smoke in our house, and we really aren't sure what our pipe may have come in contact with. It has caused a big crisis for us."
In the end, the two decided to quietly get rid of the rest of their marijuana (not by selling it to a friend, since it was kitniyot, and not hametz, they explained), and give their home one more cleaning before the holiday.
"There is no problem with hemp clothing, and of course, anything that is taken for medicinal purposes would be fine," said Kohn. "Many would look at it like cottonseed oil. There are a variety of opinions. If one considered it edible, then it is included in kitniyot."
On Monday, the religious court of the Shilo Institute issued a ruling that permits all Jews to consume kitniyot during Pessah. Rabbi David Bar-Hayim wrote the ruling, with Rabbis Yehoshua Buch and Chaim Wasserman co-signing.
The move is seen as a direct attack on the kitniyot tradition, as Bar-Hayim wrote that the current explanations for the custom were "unconvincing."
"Kitniyot is no longer applicable. It's a tradition people keep going because they want to extend a perimeter so far outside the actual law of Torah that they could not possibly violate the actual law," said Dan Sieradski, an editor at JewSchool.com who has been at work on a book on Jews and drugs for several years.
"Clearly, you can use hemp in food," he said. "You might mix it into brownies. You aren't going to make bread out of it."
OAS_AD('LeaderBrd');

 

[genkisan]

Well, I'm done emptying, bleaching and scrubbing the kitchen cupboards and washing/bleaching the ceiling and walls in the kitchen.

Tommorow I get to do the same to the panrty, scour the oven, bathroom and all the walls in the house.


Wheeeeee......

 

[Guest]

Chin up Genkisan, You might find that long lost and forgotten jar of nugs in your cleaning endevors.

 

[Guest]

Short version http://www.casperstartribune.net/art.../d8o4hd8o0.txt

Israel Group Nixes Pot on Passover



By MATTI FRIEDMAN Tuesday, March 27, 2007
JERUSALEM - In bad news for its religious Jewish supporters, an Israeli pro-marijuana party announced Tuesday that pot is forbidden on Passover.

Cannabis is among the substances Jews are forbidden to consume during the week-long festival, which begins Monday, said Michelle Levine, a spokeswoman for the Green Leaf party.

Biblical laws prohibit eating leavened foods during Passover, replacing bread with flat crackers called matza. Later injunctions by European rabbis extended those rules to forbid other foods like beans and corn, and more recent rulings have further expanded the ban to include hemp seeds, which today are found in some health oils _ and in marijuana.

Green Leaf is a small political party that supports the legalization of marijuana. Although it is by no means a Jewish religious authority, the group decided to warn its observant supporters away from the drug on Passover.
"You shouldn't smoke marijuana on the holiday, and if you have it in your house you should get rid of it," Levine said. The edict was first reported in The Jerusalem Post.

But not everyone needs to give up their habit for the duration of the festival. The rabbinic injunctions banning hemp were never adopted by Sephardic Jews, who come from countries in the Middle East and North Africa. That means there is no reason they can't keep smoking marijuana, Levine said, except that it remains illegal, despite her party's best efforts.

Green Leaf contested the last three national elections but never won a seat, despite gaining popularity as a protest vote. According to Levine, the party has a large number of religious supporters.

A service of the Associated Press(AP)


The long version

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satelli...cle/ShowFull

Is marijuana kosher for Pessah?
Sheera Claire Frenkel, THE JERUSALEM POST Mar. 27, 2007Every Sunday school student knows Pessah for its ban on food that rises, but a growing number of Jews are asking whether the holiday also precludes them from getting high.
Hemp has increasingly been spotted on the list of kitniyot, or legumes, that Ashkenazi Jews abstain from eating during Pessah, according to several influential rabbinical Web sites, including kashrut.com. But not everyone agrees that hemp qualifies for the ban, and the debate has led many to question the definition of kitniyot.
While hemp isn't a kitchen staple for most people, hemp oil can be found in a number of hygiene products and in some alternative baked goods. But it's hemp's more notorious cousin, commonly known as marijuana, that has set the sparks flying. As debate over the kitniyot tradition has gathered steam among rabbinic circles, many are looking at hemp as a case in point of why the practice of abstention needs to be reexamined.
The ban on kitniyot during Pessah began because rabbis were concerned that certain legumes would come into contact with the grains forbidden during the holiday. Farmers often grew wheat and rice in adjacent fields, and families frequently stored all of their grains and legumes in the same containers. The kitniyot tradition only applies to Jews of Ashkenazi descent, since Sephardic Jewry never adopted the practice.
Of the dozen rabbis whom The Jerusalem Post questioned on this issue, none offered a conclusive statement about how hemp should be classified for Pessah. As Rabbi Daniel Kohn of Bat Ayin explained, the issue ultimately boils down to an individual decision by each rabbi about whether hemp seeds themselves could be considered edible. If a rabbi decides that the seeds are edible, then hemp - and, by extension, marijuana - would not be considered permissible for Pessah.
Israel's Green Leaf Party ("Aleh Yarok") said it was not taking any chances. Following an inquiry by the Post, a spokeswoman for the party said the group was sending out an e-mail to members warning them about hemp's possible kashrut problems.
"We are warning our people not to eat anything with hemp products if they follow the practice of kitniyot on Pessah," said party spokeswoman Michelle Levine. "We are considering announcing a ban on everything containing hemp just to be on the safe side. We are going with the rabbis on this. People should remove all cannabis and hemp from their homes."
Levine said one of the party's main arguments for cannabis legalization was biblical references to it.
"We would like to ask people... if it's listed as not kosher 'for Pessah,' [doesn't] that mean it must be kosher the rest of the year?" said Levine.
Hemp's tricky Pessah status has caused the first marital rift for Daniel and Sarah, who recently moved to Jerusalem from Chicago. The newlyweds, who asked not to use their last name, said they had just finished their Pessah cleaning when a friend asked them if he could buy the rest of their marijuana.
"We just had no idea what he meant. It turns out he was buying it from a lot of his observant friends so that they wouldn't have it in the house, [like] hametz," said Sarah. "We aren't habitual users, but we certainly smoke in our house, and we really aren't sure what our pipe may have come in contact with. It has caused a big crisis for us."
In the end, the two decided to quietly get rid of the rest of their marijuana (not by selling it to a friend, since it was kitniyot, and not hametz, they explained), and give their home one more cleaning before the holiday.
"There is no problem with hemp clothing, and of course, anything that is taken for medicinal purposes would be fine," said Kohn. "Many would look at it like cottonseed oil. There are a variety of opinions. If one considered it edible, then it is included in kitniyot."
On Monday, the religious court of the Shilo Institute issued a ruling that permits all Jews to consume kitniyot during Pessah. Rabbi David Bar-Hayim wrote the ruling, with Rabbis Yehoshua Buch and Chaim Wasserman co-signing.
The move is seen as a direct attack on the kitniyot tradition, as Bar-Hayim wrote that the current explanations for the custom were "unconvincing."
"Kitniyot is no longer applicable. It's a tradition people keep going because they want to extend a perimeter so far outside the actual law of Torah that they could not possibly violate the actual law," said Dan Sieradski, an editor at JewSchool.com who has been at work on a book on Jews and drugs for several years.
"Clearly, you can use hemp in food," he said. "You might mix it into brownies. You aren't going to make bread out of it."
OAS_AD('LeaderBrd');

Great!!! Now all the shipments of marjuarna have been diverted to Isreal to meet the demand for after passover.
Every Friday I have been eating fish. Mickey D's took thier fish sandwich off the dollar menu and are now charging $2.35 per sandwhich. And if you want a double decker fish it's $3.50. I can't wait to eat a fat juicy steak.
Sorry for the rant. I'm high.

 

[Pipedream]

When I was young, my Baba (Grandmother) lived with us and called the shots. This was the week for feather and torch. I can still smell the oven being burned clean! When she passed away, my Mom (her daughter) dumped the second set of plates but meat and dairy remained in different meals. Shortly after I married I took my new wife out for a lobster dinner. One of my adult sons claims to be an agnostic, and the other an atheiest. However, they both complain if I don't at least go thru the four questions Ma nish ta na.

Funny what time does. Zesa Pasech!

 

[daisy jane]

I dated a jewish guy when I was in high school. I had to help him clean his house for Passover and his front and back yard...which sucked. Let me tell ya, his house was a mess. You know when you see puppy mill houses on Animal Planet, well that is what this house looked like..minus the puppies. It was horrible.

I'm not gonna lie. Matza is good when you add cheese on top. Matza ball soup is one of my favorite kosher foods. Yum yum.

That is why I like being an atheist. Everyday is a holiday for me and I don't have to give up a damn thing

 

[Pops]

I feel for you,Genki, and am thankful that my mom was not Jewish. Her priorities were hunting, fishing and collecting rocks. Cleaning was certainly not one of them. When we were young, my sister and I used to hang tinsel from the cobwebs on the ceiling at Christmas time.

BTW, when you get done, please come over to my place. It certainly could use a touch of cleaning, but don't even think of throwing my stash away.

 

[idontgivenames]

Shalom. Glad to see another MOT. I don't celebrate pass over really though. I practice Judaism in my own way, the Gnostic way.

 

[trichomefarmer]

being religious is way too much effort for this lazy free thinker.

 

[Nikijad4210]

niki, you lived with my mom too?

HA!
My mom always has and always will yell at us if we try to clean up for her. It's usually along the lines of "Don't touch anything! You don't clean it right!"
Fuck man, it's not like the tile floor's going to show it if you don't wash it in a particular pattern.....And don't both washing the dishes, apparently splattering a little water in the process is some sort of housekeeping sin, even if you clean it up when you're done.
And then there's always the "Don't touch that, I just cleaned it!" speech.