It is just two short weeks to the Festival of Pesach, or, as most of you know it in English, the festival of Passover (begins evening of Apr. 14). Many of us are in the midst of cleaning our house of Chometz, of any products that we are forbidden to have in our possession during this Feast of Unleavened Bread.

We search our houses from one corner to the next, making sure not to miss a single crumb of leavened bread so that everything is totally Kosher l’Pesach, that it is fit for use … meeting the requirements for food that is acceptable during this holiday.

There is a wonderful tradition that certainly grabbed me as a child. It added a lot of fun and anticipation to the start of the festival as my parents would hide little bits of bread in various places in the house and to prepare for the week.

We would shut off the lights and light a candle and walk around the house ,trying to find each and every remaining piece of bread. When a piece was found, we would use a large feather and gently brush the pieces of bread we found into a plastic bag that would later be taken out of the house and burned the next morning. The truth is, I didn’t really care for the feather … and I never particularly liked the heat from the fire that was created to burn the last of the bread. But the search for the bread, that search always filled me with awe, with joy, with excitement.

And sure enough, when the festival actually began, and the first and second night we held huge Seders in our house, there was yet another search that I anxiously awaited — the search for the Afikomen, for the special dessert served on Passover. But, for those of you who might be attending your very first Seder this year, don’t get too excited, because the dessert itself is just a plain piece of matza … no margarine, no jelly, just a plain, simple piece of unleavened bread.

After the luscious meal served at the Seder, the Afikomen for dessert might be quite a letdown, but the search, as I’ve already told you … I loved the search.

And isn’t that what we are all doing? We are searching. I guess the big question is what are we, better yet, what are you, searching for?

I know that to prepare for the festival many of our children will delight in searching the house for every last bread crumb they can find, so that our homes are totally free of any leavened bread. But ridding the home of such foods that we put in our mouths is not enough. If we really want to teach our children the importance of Passover and of ridding the house of breads that rise, if we really want to teach our children about making the house Kasher L’Peach, then we must not only get rid of those things that are forbidden from going into our mouths. We must also get rid of those things that are forbidden from coming out of our mouths.

Our body is a temporary home. It houses our soul. Our mouths are a doorway, allowing things to enter and to leave. May G-d give us the wisdom and the strength to watch not just the foods we put in, but the words we allow out.

Wishing you all a most joyous pesach,

Shalom my friends,

Rabbi Craig H. Ezring

Rabbi Ezring is the spiritual leader of Temple Beth Israel of Deerfield Beach. We welcome you to join our warm and caring family for Shabbat and festival services. We’ll make your heart glow…who knows, you might even fall in love with Shul all over again.