Rabbi's Corner

Despite--or perhaps because of--its many nuanced rules, Passover is one of my favorite holidays. We must spend time thinking about it and preparing for it. We lean into its symbols, and imagine what it is like to receive freedom and liberation. We gather as friends and family to have a unique meal together with stories, reflections, and discussions--speaking over our meal in a way that many of us rarely have the time to do. We shift our food for a week, which means we pay careful attention to what we are eating.

This feature of the holiday is, understandably, the one I hear most about as a Rabbi from Jews.

Each Pesach, I hear about the cost of Kosher for Passover products.  As we know, the cost of these products can be much higher than we are used to spending on our groceries. This year, many of us are particularly impacted when the overall cost of groceries, such as eggs, has also gone up significantly.  One thing I have started to hear that breaks my heart a bit as a Rabbi is that some are so concerned about the cost of KPF products that they fear they may not be able to keep Passover at all. 

In my own house, we tend to eat quite simply to help address this problem--we buy very few substitutions for hametz, and rather stick to foods that simply don't have it. We also try to only buy products with Passover certifications that absolutely require that certification, or "heksher".

I worry that some of this comes from the sheer number of Passover substitutes that show up in our markets, especially the larger Kosher markets, and the fact that the existence of a KFP heksher (a certification that a food is kosher for Passover) has become so ubiquitous, we have lost sight of what items actually need it. There are certain products such as many dairy items that, if they are purchased in advance (when there is no prohibition against hametz), can be fine with a normal heksher (kashrut certification) because there is no likelihood of hametz being in them, and therefore any accidentally present are nullified as less than one sixtieth of the product. There are others, such as eggs or fruits and vegetables, which can be purchased even during Passover without a KFP heksher. 

I invite you, as you finalize your shopping list to take a careful look at pages 9 through 11 or the Rabbinical Assembly's Passover guide to see what items you can perhaps get without spending more than you usually do. A link to the guide was sent to our members, but can also be found here. Please feel free to ask me any questions you might have!

You can also listen to Hadar's "Responsa Radio" podcast which has an episode about what does or does not require a KFP heksher here.

The Sfat Emet said that clearing of Hametz is meant to be an opportunity to also clear ourselves of the pieces of our own souls that can rise and be fermented, the "spiritual hametz". This Passover, let us focus on the clearing of hametz--rather than the replacement of it--so that we can afford to notice the pieces of our own souls we'd like to clean out. 

May your preparations be smooth and affordable.