Selling Chametz
Even if you don’t keep a kosher kitchen, and/or you don’t “convert” your kitchen for Pesach, there is still spiritual value in selling your chametz: You are engaging with myriad Jews worldwide in a practice that can be traced back to Torah and, if you include a donations to “ma’ot chitin,” you are enabling those in need to more fully celebrate Pesach.
A Few Things About Pesach (With lots of links)
There is a wealth of information about Pesach (and the challenges of this year) at Exploring Judaism.org.
Omer 5785
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Purim: What’s at Stake
Today is Ta’anit Ester, a half-day fast in solidarity with the biblical Esther who orchestrated a three-day hunger strike to boost her chance of success in approaching the king without having been summoned, potentially a capital offense.
Remember! Forget!
Is Amalek demoralizing the Israelites by picking off the vulnerable? Perhaps shaming them for not protecting those most at risk?
After defeating Amalek, the Israelites are told to blot out the memory of that tribe — implying that we dare not again betray the unprotected.
The charge to erase the memory of Amalek closes with the injunction “lo tishkach / do not forget!”
As if we could!
Would that we could forget this past year, blotting out our feelings of vulnerability, but “lo tishkach / we cannot forget / we may not forget / we will not forget.”
Let us remember…and learn compassion and determination.
Shabbat shalom! שבת שלום