Each year, the Eve before Pesach, we conduct the ritual of bedikat chametz, the searching of unleavened products from our home. We go around the house with a feather, spoon, and candle, making the declaration, “All chametz that we see and that we do not see is null and void.” Yet, just like so many other traditions of this past year, bedikat chametz will be different; because Passover begins on Saturday evening, we perform bedikat chametz a day earlier.
This short ceremony symbolized the larger check of chametz – in our homes, in our cars, and even in our pockets. What metaphorical crumbs do we carry that we wish to discard? What areas of our lives do we desire to clean? In past year, bedikat chametz was done in our individual homes. This year, it will be the same, but as a community, we will act this out together on Zoom. As you may know, it is easy to “stop video” on a Zoom call. Bedikat chametz tells us otherwise – it is time to “start video,” an opportunity to show each other that the chametz cleanup is not an easy task but a worthwhile one to engage in.
