On Sunday evening, we will search for the chametz in our homes. Over the past year, the chametz accumulated in places we know and places we do not know. We recite the declaration to nullify all that chametz that we see and all chametz that we do not see. We take one step further on the morning of the Seder and we burn the chametz to ensure it is not in our sight.
For a full week, we refrain from chametz. Yet, at the end of the holy day, we are quick to rush back to chametz, the leaven of our soul. The purpose of bedikat chametz is not explicitly taught, but the tosafot in the Talmud see it is a backup to the verbal nullification. Later commentaries explain searching for chametz addressed the potential risks that remain.
How much more do we need this purpose today? Rabbi Mitchell Wohlberg published The Un-Haggadah: How To Keep The Conversation and Wine Flowing at Your Seder. He writes that we prepare the food and the company, but we do not prepare enough to tell the story. This is the potential risk we all face today.
We will sit at our Seder tables on Monday evening as much different Jews than we were last year. On Sunday, as we remove the chametz from our homes, let us also remove the chametz from our souls and prepare in a meaningful way to ensure our story continues to be told.
