chametz

What’s meaningful about not mixing milk and meat? Observant Jews who follow the Torah know that cheeseburgers are forbidden… but do you ever stop to ask why? What’s the problem with adding a slice of cheese to your hamburger? Why is it so important to God that we abstain? Is it some kind of test, that God wants us to not eating certain yummy things to prove that we’re committed to the Torah? Is it that God wants to make it extra complicated to keep kosher, so Jews will be more likely to socialize only with others who also keep the Torah? Is it a law that has no reason at all? Is it none of the above?

Imu Shalev and Beth Lesch explore this aspect of the laws of keeping kosher, delving deep into the Torah verse that instructs us “not to cook a baby goat in its mother’s milk.” Weaving together textual analysis, personal reflection, and joyful conversation, they arrive at a surprising and beautiful theory about the meaning of this law. Come along on the journey with them, and come away with an energizing new perspective on what it means to keep kosher.

This episode is the second in a three-part series exploring the topic of kashrut. (Part 1 is “What’s Meaningful About Keeping Kosher?”) Stay tuned for a future episode on the distinction between kosher and non-kosher animals.

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In this episode, we learn positive mitzvah #22, which is to remove chametz from your possession on the 14th day of Nissan.

• Chametz is when one of the five grains (wheat, barley, oat, spelt, rye) are mixed with water and left to rise for at least 18 minutes.
• One can remove chametz by eating, destroying it, throwing it out, or declaring it as ownerless.
• The deadline for this mitzva is the 14th day on the month of Nissan at midday.
  • The Sages made the deadline one hour earlier, so that people don't leave it for the last minute
• The Sages instituted that the night before this deadline, people should search their homes to find all their chametz ("Bedikat Chametz").

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What is the big issue wiht bread? why the ancient rituals of searching the house with a candle and so many other questions answered about the preparations for Pesach. Rabbi Menachem Wolf draws on the Kabbalistic meaning of the burning of the Chametz to explain the ritual of strengthening self esteem while destroying negative ego.

This is a recording of a class given at Spiritgrow.