Preparing the Home for Pesach - Rabbi Menachem Cohen shlita

00:02 Speaker 1 You’re listening to “Lema’an Yishme’u,” a podcast of Machon Halacha Chabad.

00:10 Speaker 2 Hello and blessings to all our viewers and listeners. We are now approaching Pesach, which is coming upon us for good. First of all, I want to wish each and every one of you a kosher and happy Pesach. And with Hashem’s help, what I want to talk about now is how we can truly have a kosher and happy Pesach: how to avoid anything undesirable, anything involving chametz, anything that could get in the way; the whole subject of kashering utensils and preparing the home for Pesach. What we ask Hakadosh Boruch Hu, as we say in the prayer after burning the chametz, is: “Just as I remove chametz from my home and my possession, so may You remove all the external forces and cause the spirit of impurity to pass from the earth. Remove our evil inclination from us and give us a heart of flesh to serve You in truth. May all the sitra achra, all the kelipos and all wickedness be consumed in smoke, and may You remove the rule of evil from the earth.” May all undesirable things, all the things that are not good, truly pass from the earth and disappear as though they had never been. We do this by nullifying the chametz ourselves. Chametz is compared to the evil inclination: it swells up, raises itself high and tries to catch us in its net. That is what we’ll talk about today: how we do this, how, on the one hand, we nullify all the chametz, and on the other hand, truly have a happy Yom Tov, without pressure or worry. I once heard an explanation of something written in the Chumash. It says, “You shall not make molten gods for yourself,” and then, “You shall observe the festival of matzos.” What is the connection? First it speaks about idol worship, and then about observing the festival of matzos. So the explanation

02:28 Speaker 2 is that, on the one hand, we must observe the festival of matzos, but on the other hand, we must be careful not to become angry, because whoever becomes angry is considered as though he worships idols. It is also very, very important to avoid anger and negative things, so that, G-d forbid, neither chametz nor anger has a place in our Pesach. So let’s begin with the foundation: What is the source of this matter and of the great care we take to avoid chametz on Pesach? The Torah gives us two central prohibitions concerning chametz. That is why we take particular care with it: the Torah warns us not only against eating chametz, G-d forbid, but also against having it seen or found in our possession. “No chametz shall be seen in your possession,” and no chametz shall be found in any of your boundaries. Not only must you not eat chametz, G-d forbid; you must not have any at all. It must not be seen or found in your possession, in your place, wherever you are. According to Torah law, the main thing is for a person to nullify or relinquish ownership of the chametz he has. Why? Once the chametz is not yours, you do not transgress the prohibitions against having it seen or found in your possession. “No chametz shall be seen in your possession, and no leaven shall be found in your possession, in all your boundaries.” What you may not see is your own; you may, however, see chametz belonging to others. So from the Torah’s perspective, what matters is that a person nullifies the chametz. We do that by saying: “All leaven and chametz in my possession, whether I have seen it or have not seen it, whether I have removed it or have not removed it, shall be nullified and ownerless, like the dust of the earth.” With these words, a person says what he intends. He needs to know what the words mean, because the essence of nullification, the essence

04:38 Speaker 2 of nullifying and relinquishing ownership, takes place in the heart. Simply saying the words is not the main thing. The main thing is that he understands what he is saying: he is nullifying all the chametz and leaven in his possession, treating it like the dust of the earth, as though it were dirt or sand. Even if he sees it, it is considered ownerless. It is both nullified and considered ownerless. As far as he is concerned, it is of no significance. By saying this, he effectively removes all the chametz from his possession; it is no longer his. That is according to Torah law. But the Sages did not consider that sufficient. They required each person to check thoroughly for chametz, to conduct a thorough search, and to actually remove and dispose of all the chametz in his home. There are two important reasons for this. First, a person will often say the words without truly meaning them, especially if he has something valuable at home—some desirable chametz, what the Gemara calls a “fine loaf.” Perhaps he has a good cake, a particularly fine package of wafers, or something else he values. When he sees it, he may say, “I didn’t really mean to give that up.” Then his relinquishment of ownership was not genuine, and he transgresses the prohibitions against having chametz seen or found in his possession. A second reason the Sages required us to actually dispose of the chametz—and to search for it—is that if a person only nullified it, all the chametz would remain in his home. What might happen? Something very simple: he has chametz in the house. He is used to eating chametz all year, so even during Pesach, he may see the roll or whatever it is

06:45 Speaker 2 that he nullified or relinquished, and he might pick it up and eat some, G-d forbid, thereby also transgressing the prohibition against eating chametz. So the Sages instituted that nullification alone is not enough. Nullification is important and must be done, but a person must also actually dispose of the chametz. That means checking and searching every place chametz could have been brought. Strictly speaking, the search must cover every place where there could be chametz. If you have a room that you know no one enters with chametz during the year, or high cupboards where no one ever puts chametz, in principle you do not need to check there. You need to check every place where there is a reasonable chance someone brought chametz. But Jews are holy, and they check every place, every corner and everything they can. They make the effort. The Jewish people have embraced this Pesach mitzvah with tremendous love, and so they make a great effort to do everything, to be meticulous, to check and search even the smallest details, in every place. But not out of pressure. A person should not do these things under pressure. He should not do them in a way that, G-d forbid, might harm his health, his wife’s health, his children’s health, or anyone’s sense of well-being. That is not how it should be. No one should be hurt emotionally, physically or in any other way. Quite the opposite. One of the explanations for why we make such a special effort with the mitzvah concerning chametz during Pesach, more than with any other mitzvah

08:33 Speaker 2 …than with other prohibitions, we are more meticulous: we search and scrub. Part of that is for a practical reason—chametz is simply more common in our homes, as we said. But there is also a very interesting reason. What is it? It is quite simple. The mitzvos of Pesach—the prohibition of chametz and the eating of matzah—were the first mitzvos the Jewish people received when they became a nation. When the Jewish people left Egypt through Moshe Rabbeinu, they received these mitzvos even before the mitzvos given at Matan Torah. So they embraced them with special affection, and because of that, they make an extra effort: to be meticulous in every detail, to do it better and more beautifully. But we have to remember that this must come from a desire to do more, to make things better and more praiseworthy. It must not, G-d forbid, lead to anger or pressure that could hurt people—or even, G-d forbid, make someone feel that they dislike this Yom Tov. Especially with children, we need them to love it, enjoy it, and feel good about it. Now we’ll talk about preparing utensils for Pesach, about kashering utensils. How do we prepare the house for Pesach, and the household utensils? We’ll talk about the kitchen later; first, we’ll start with the utensils. I’ll tell a story I heard, just to illustrate the level of meticulousness involved. In halachah, when it comes to kashering and cleaning

10:26 Speaker 2 utensils, there are really two ends of the spectrum, and we need to know both. Sometimes circumstances leave us no choice but to do the minimum, so we need to know what the Shulchan Aruch requires. At the same time, the Jewish people strive to go beyond that, and in Chabad especially, we try to be more and more meticulous. It is worth trying to reach the highest level we can. As is well known, the Arizal said that it is proper to observe all the stringencies of Pesach, and that anyone who is careful to avoid even a trace of chametz on Pesach is assured that they will not sin throughout the year. So it is worth doing as much as possible. But we’ll explain all the laws. I heard a story from Rabbi Aizik Landau, the rabbi of Bnei Brak. Once, the Rebbe Rashab traveled from one place to another with his entire family, and all their utensils and belongings were moved with them. It happened that their Pesach utensils were left unattended for several hours—or perhaps an entire night. Of course, they were packed away in boxes, completely closed. As far as anyone knew, nobody touched them before or after. But because they had been unattended, the Rebbe Rashab instructed that all those utensils be kashered again. This gives us a sense of how high we should aim, doing everything we can to ensure there is no chametz at all. That is also why people have the custom not to eat in one another’s homes on Pesach: one person may be more meticulous than another, and that could lead to friction. But we also need to know the basic law. Sometimes circumstances are such that—we can take a deep breath—there are constraints, and it is also possible

12:22 Speaker 2 to make do with a lower standard. Still, we should aim and try, as much as we can, to reach the highest level. When it comes to cleaning the house, there are three basic things. The first, most fundamental and most important, is to clean as thoroughly as possible: to scrub well anything chametz might have touched. That includes every place chametz may have entered, places where children play, children’s toys—anything where a child might suddenly have brought a piece of cake or a bit of a roll. Those places especially need thorough cleaning, because children tend to scatter crumbs. Wash and clean every place you can reach very, very well. That is the first thing, and the most important. Then there are places where things can get in but are hard to reach. Take sofas and beds, for example. You clean everything you can, but there are gaps and places that are difficult, or even impossible, to reach, and something might later come out of them. So here is what we do. With sofas, beds, and the like, you also cannot just—right?—you don’t want to ruin them, G-d forbid. So we clean them well, and then vacuum everything we can reach. Anything deeper inside we nullify in our hearts. As we said, whatever we cannot reach is nullified when we say the declaration of nullification. In some places, we can pour in a substance that makes the chametz unfit for consumption, such as bleach. This often comes up with refrigerators and other things that have corners and little spaces we cannot reach, but where we can apply such a substance. We should use bleach or something similar there. What does that accomplish? We have not removed the chametz, but we have made it unfit for consumption. Once it is unfit even for a dog to eat, it is no longer considered chametz, so there is no problem. That, then, is the approach: wash and clean whatever you can. Where you cannot reach easily, apply a substance that makes it unfit. Where even that is impossible because it is too deep inside, rely on nullification. Through nullification, we fulfill our obligation even if something remains deep in a place that is impossible, or very difficult, to reach. That is regarding sofas. Let’s perhaps discuss a few other things.

14:24 Speaker 2 In general, when washing and cleaning, it is worth paying attention: we have mezuzos and holy books in the house. Be careful not to wash around them in a way that could damage them. Clean thoroughly, but make sure water does not reach places where it could ruin a holy book or a mezuzah, so that everything remains intact and as it should be. If someone washed an area and water reached a mezuzah, leaving it wet, it is worth taking the mezuzah to be checked to make sure it has not been invalidated. If it has, of course, replace it with a new mezuzah. As for books, in principle it depends on which books we mean. If we mean bentchers or books that we use

16:18 Speaker 2 They come into a lot of contact with chametz, like siddurim that we daven from or sometimes use to say Birkas Hamazon. So it’s best to put them away with the chametz or clean them very, very thoroughly. But it’s better to put them away with the chametz and use Pesach bentchers. Have siddurim set aside specifically for Pesach, so we won’t have a problem with chametz stuck in them. If we’re talking about books that we hardly use anyway, that we use once in a while, in principle it’s enough to clean them on the outside. Many people also open them and shake them out, but in principle it’s enough to clean the books thoroughly, clean the bookcase and clean the shelves, because someone might have put something there. That’s very, very common on shelves. A child may suddenly have put something there. Or you may have put something down to pick up later and forgotten about it. All kinds of things can happen. It’s worth cleaning the bookcases. They need to be cleaned thoroughly, making sure everything is clean. But as for the books themselves, in principle there shouldn’t be chametz in them, certainly not any substantial piece of chametz, so there’s no concern. There could be, though. What is worth doing in the period before Pesach, especially in the month before Pesach, is making sure not to eat near books. If you want to eat, eat—there’s no problem—but don’t eat near books, so chametz doesn’t stick to them when you might use them later during Pesach. Likewise during Pesach, don’t put books next to the... next to the food you’re eating at a meal. Especially if it’s a book you didn’t clean specifically, there might still be something there, some crumb. Make sure no crumbs get into the food, and then it’s fine. If you’re careful about that, that’s what

18:13 Speaker 2 matters. If we’re talking, say, about silverware, jewelry, things like that—candlesticks and the like—then with candlesticks, it’s enough to clean them thoroughly, including the grooves, and you can use those same candlesticks during Pesach. Jewelry is more of a problem. Rings and the like often come into contact with chametz, sometimes even hot chametz—when baking, kneading and cooking. So those rings need hagalah before Pesach. Another option is to put them aside: clean them thoroughly, put them away for Pesach and don’t touch them. After Pesach, you can take them out and use them; there’s no problem. If we’re talking about things for babies, like formula and various things, bottles, you need to buy—make sure that what you use during Pesach is kosher-for-Pesach food. Baby food can sometimes contain kitniyos, but nowadays you can also get it without kitniyos, so it’s preferable to find something with no kitniyos or anything else of concern, something that is completely kosher for Pesach. If not, it can contain kitniyos, but it should have reliable, mehudar Pesach supervision. The baby’s high chair, right? The chair the baby sits in. Make sure to clean it thoroughly and then cover it, because hot things are put there; it’s used for hot things during the year. Clean it and then cover it. In general, that’s the approach with everything. We also need to clean it. The best, preferred way to handle kashering utensils is this: we clean them thoroughly. After cleaning, if it’s something used with heat, something sometimes used with hot things,

20:12 Speaker 2 we also do hagalah or libun, depending on what it is. And afterward, if we can cover it, we try to cover it. Another thing worth knowing: in general, it’s advisable and preferable to have utensils for Pesach, new utensils for Pesach, rather than using the year-round ones at all. We try not to do hagalah or any other kashering. The best thing is to get new utensils for Pesach. We gain two things from this. First, we don’t have to get into questions and problems about whether the hagalah was done properly. Second, we have new utensils for Pesach. “This is my G-d, and I will beautify Him”—beautify the mitzvos before Him. We have new utensils especially for Pesach. That’s the best way. It saves us a great many problems and resolves them. It prepares us for Pesach much better. Let’s also mention what Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev would say before Hakadosh Boruch Hu at the time of shofar blowing: “Master of the Universe, if my shofar blowing wasn’t quite what it should have been, and the angels created by it aren’t so strong, then the angels created by kashrak”—all the scraping, washing and kashering... Kashrak is an acronym in Yiddish: krat-zen, shaben, raiben, keren. All the scrubbing, washing, cleaning and kashering we do for Pesach creates strong angels. Those angels will surely speak well on our behalf and on behalf of all the Jewish people, for good things, a good year and a kosher and joyous Pesach. In addition, we have the vehicle, the car, and the yard of the house. We need to clean the yard of chametz too. It needs cleaning. If there are animals, we don’t need to check quite as thoroughly, since the animals themselves eat it,

22:16 Speaker 2 but we do need to go over the whole yard and clear away any chametz, and clean the car thoroughly of chametz. It’s worth taking the car to be washed before Pesach. If we intend to use the car, that is; if we don’t intend to use it, we can include it in the sale of chametz. Anything we don’t intend to use during Pesach, we can close off and include in the sale of chametz. Of course, we need to know that any chametz food must be securely closed away, so we won’t go in there. It no longer belongs to us; it belongs to the non-Jew, and we shouldn’t go near it at all. Sometimes someone needs to go in just once—many people ask about this too. We don’t need to get into the whole subject. Many people ask, “I forgot something in the area sold with the chametz.” If it’s something you know for certain has no possible chametz concern, you can go in and take it, as though you were entering someone else’s property: go in, take it and leave. Good. Now we’ll talk about everything connected with the kitchen and its utensils. This is the main part, the central issue in hagalah and kashering utensils. What do we actually do with the kitchen and the kitchen utensils? We’ll also talk a little about utensils found in institutions or other large facilities, and how we kasher them. So let’s begin with the things we won’t kasher, the ones we need to prepare for properly and simply buy Pesach utensils for. Either we don’t kasher them because they can’t be kashered, or because the matter is subject to major disagreement, or because in any case we

24:21 Speaker 2 The practice is not to kasher them. That includes quite a few kinds of utensils. For example, there are things we cannot kasher—halachically, we are not permitted to kasher them. One is called a leaven container. That means things used constantly for chametz, such as a bread container, bread baskets, and the like, or places where bread is stored regularly. There is always bread and bread crumbs there, over a long period of time, so we cannot kasher them. The same applies to things used for kneading dough, and to an oven—a chametz oven. That is a very big problem, not simple at all. There are opinions that such ovens cannot be kashered at all, so our practice is not to kasher a chametz oven for Pesach, but to have a separate oven for Pesach. In the places where I supervise kashrus for Pesach, in Meron and elsewhere, we always make sure that all the utensils—everything apart from things like the sinks and countertops, which we’ll discuss shortly—are for Pesach. Pesach ovens, everything exclusively for Pesach. That is really the best advice, the best way to make Pesach both kosher and happy. It spares us all the confusion and all sorts of halachic questions about whether something was done properly or not. But the things we’ve mentioned are truly necessary, and certainly everyone should have a separate oven for Pesach. The same applies to a minibar water dispenser, a hot-water urn, and things like that. We should not use on Pesach a minibar or urn that we used

26:25 Speaker 2 during the year. If we need one, we buy a hot-water urn or minibar for Pesach. There are things we can clean, and the way to prepare them for Pesach is relatively easier than preparing a countertop. We’ll get to that later. For example, a refrigerator or freezer. Refrigerators and freezers contain chametz throughout the year, so they need to be cleaned thoroughly. The dirt found there is considered chametz. You have to clean it thoroughly—all the surfaces and all the walls—but this does not require hagalah or anything like that. Just clean it well, wash it well, cover the door handle, and also cover the walls and the shelves—everything you intend to put food on. Basically, cover everything so we won’t have a problem with anything the refrigerator or freezer absorbed. Cover everything you can. In addition, pour bleach into all the holes and cracks where chametz might have gotten in: the grooves, around the door, around the rubber seal—all those places, after cleaning them thoroughly. We also have tables and chairs. We clean the tables and chairs thoroughly. First, remove all the chametz crumbs. Then, besides cleaning the table, we cover it well with a covering that does not conduct heat. After cleaning it, we try to put down some insulating material, some cardboard or something sturdy that won’t tear, and cover that with a tablecloth as well. That gives us several layers of covering, and then we can use the table, put things on it, and eat

28:34 Speaker 2 there during Pesach. Now we have the walls and the countertop. The countertop is really the main thing we need to protect. We clean it thoroughly—that is the first step. Usually, to kasher a countertop during the year, we also pour boiling water over it. To kasher it, we pour boiling water directly from the vessel in which it was boiled. In other words, we take the kettle and bring it to a full boil, then immediately, before the water cools, pour it from the kettle over the entire countertop. We cover the whole surface thoroughly. After that, we pour cold water over it and clean it well, then cover it with heavy-duty aluminum foil, PVC, Styrofoam, or a wooden board, so that it is well covered. That is what we do for Pesach. During the year, we don’t cover it, so we also have to pass a heated stone or a hot iron over the water to keep it boiling hot. Here, for Pesach, we are covering it anyway. So it is enough to pour boiling water over the entire countertop and then cover it well, in a way that won’t come loose or tear. In addition, there is the wall. The walls above the countertop have absorbed things, and during Pesach those things could come out of them. So we cover all of that too. We put a covering over everything—heavy-duty aluminum foil. We put a covering on

30:46 Speaker 2 the entire wall, at least up to the height the pots reach. The pots reach a certain height; cover a little higher than that. Beyond that, you don’t need to. Up to the height the pots reach, you need to put something up, to attach a covering to the wall, so there won’t be any problems with what the wall absorbed throughout the year. Then there is the water faucet. We cover the faucet and its handles. Before covering them, we kasher them. How? We turn on the hot water and also pour boiling water from a kettle over the faucet. That is kashering it from both sides. Even after kashering, we try to use the faucet only for cold water, not boiling or hot water, so there won’t be a problem if some chametz remains there. Let’s talk about a few more parts of the kitchen, a few more things everyone needs to know how to kasher or clean for Pesach. There is the stovetop. Ideally, you should have a new stovetop for Pesach. Don’t get tangled up with kashering it. Hot, boiling things are on it throughout the year. It is best to have a new stovetop for Pesach. If that does not work for someone, they need to ask exactly how to kasher it; there are various details involved. We won’t go into all the details now because it is a fairly broad subject. But the most important thing, I would say, is to plan ahead and have a new stovetop for Pesach. That is what we do, and that is what I instruct in every place where I supervise kashrus. Having a new stovetop for Pesach solves many problems. As for the sink—the sink in the countertop—we’ve explained how to kasher the countertop itself. As for the sink

32:57 Speaker 2 That depends. First of all, there’s a difference: if it’s a stainless-steel sink, you can pour boiling water over it, just as we did with the countertop. You can do the same with a stainless-steel sink. If the sink is made of plastic or porcelain, you can’t kasher it. In any case, what do you do in practice? You have a sink, and it isn’t kosher for Pesach. So you put in a special Pesach sink—a sink insert that you can buy for Pesach. It’s not a problem to get one. You should also try not to put dishes in the sink during Pesach. Even if you’ve bought and installed a special Pesach sink, or kashered a stainless-steel sink, try not to leave dishes in it during Pesach. And of course, if it’s a sink that cannot be kashered and you haven’t kashered it, then strictly speaking you must be careful not to put dishes there, and to keep it clean during Pesach. Now, there’s the electric hot plate, the Shabbos hot plate. Here too, the best and simplest approach is to buy a Shabbos hot plate for Pesach. That saves us a lot of problems. Or don’t use a hot plate during Pesach. But if that doesn’t work out—and often it doesn’t—take the hot plate and turn it on at its highest setting for an hour. Then pour boiling water over it from an electric kettle. After pouring on the boiling water and cleaning it, wrap it in two layers of aluminum foil. Now, because this can cause it to get too hot, don’t wrap it completely; leave certain areas uncovered. Once we’ve kashered the hot plate by turning it up to its highest

35:09 Speaker 2 setting and pouring boiling water over it, part of the hot plate can be left uncovered by aluminum foil, and it can be used. In addition, there are cabinets. Cabinets are often used to store chametz and all kinds of chametz-related things. They need to be cleaned thoroughly too, especially cabinets below or above the countertop and the like, where things may drip onto them. You should also line the bottom of the cabinet and, after cleaning the cabinet itself thoroughly, cover it well with paper or aluminum foil. Now, before we finish, I want to stress an important point: everything we’ve explained and discussed is the most mehudar way, the best way. That’s what we should aim for and strive to do, each and every one of us. If it doesn’t work out, you can ask a rav whether there’s room to be lenient on particular details. Let me give an example of why we try so hard. Strictly speaking, you can take utensils and use them after hagalah. Say you have a silver cup, a Kiddush cup. Strictly speaking, if you wash and clean that same cup thoroughly, and you use it only for cold things—you don’t drink hot wine, only cold wine, throughout the year—you can use it during Pesach after cleaning it thoroughly. But we try to do things in the most mehudar way. So not only do we avoid doing hagalah—some people do hagalah in case the cup came into contact with something hot during the year—but we won’t even do hagalah. We’ll take a

37:02 Speaker 2 Pesach utensil, a new cup for Pesach. That’s the best way, the most mehudar way. It saves us a lot of problems. That way, we make Pesach not just kosher, but as mehudar as possible. If someone has a particular situation, each case can be discussed on its own merits, but this is the best and most mehudar way. Now let’s talk about utensils, kashering utensils, and hagalah. How do we kasher utensils in public places, large facilities, and institutions—commercial kitchen equipment? There are various appliances we won’t use. As we know, we won’t use ovens during Pesach; we won’t use an institutional oven for Pesach. We won’t use stovetops for Pesach either. There are things we can use and things we won’t use. For example, we won’t use a dishwasher during Pesach, whether at home or in an institution. There’s also a dish-drying rack, a place where we just put dishes to dry. We need to clean the rack thoroughly, and in principle we can use it. If it’s possible to buy a new dish-drying rack for Pesach, of course, all the better. The Jewish people are holy and try to be mehudar when possible, and that would certainly be very good. If not, you can use a dish-drying rack after cleaning it very thoroughly for Pesach. Then there’s equipment used for something very common on Pesach. One of the usual and beloved foods during Pesach is potatoes. We eat a lot of potatoes, cook with potatoes, and use potatoes. They’re among the foods people eat most during Pesach. So there’s an appliance,

39:28 Speaker 2 a large appliance used to peel potatoes. You put potatoes into it, and they come out peeled. You can use this appliance during Pesach after cleaning and washing it thoroughly. Throughout the year it’s used only for potatoes, so there’s no particular issue. Wash it well, clean it thoroughly, and then you can use it to peel potatoes during Pesach too. There’s also an ice-making machine, for making ice cubes. You need to clean it thoroughly, but it has ice in it. So a few days before kashering it, stop making ice and turn off the freezing function so it can thaw. Once it has thawed, clean it thoroughly. After that, you can turn it back on and use it to make ice during Pesach as well. There’s a utensil used to take out the ice cubes. That should be replaced—you don’t know what else it may have been used for. It’s advisable to replace it for Pesach. There are other things, too, that we should use for Pesach—new utensils, of course. We mentioned that all the cutlery and everything else, especially knives, should be designated for Pesach. Even washing cups, although they’re used only for netilas yadayim: the Jewish people are holy and try to be mehudar by having Pesach washing cups. That is an extra hiddur, of course, because strictly speaking there’s certainly no problem washing your hands with vessels that were also used during the rest of the year. But if you can use...

41:43 Speaker 2 Special cups for Pesach are certainly much better. We also have carts—carts used to transport food. These carts are often needed during Pesach in institutional settings, so we kasher them much the way we kasher countertops. We take boiling water and pour it over the carts after cleaning them thoroughly. First, we clean them thoroughly. As we said, everything has to be thoroughly cleaned of chametz. Once we have removed all visible chametz, we kasher them. Kashering removes what has been absorbed into the surface, right? It will not help if there is still dirt on it. The fact that you kashered it will not help. So first clean it thoroughly of all dirt and all visible chametz. Then, after cleaning it thoroughly, pour boiling water over the cart and all its parts. For places where you cannot pour boiling water—parts underneath or on the sides—pass a blowtorch over them, giving them a light libun. This burns away anything in places where chametz might have gotten in and we could not clean it or pour boiling water over it. We use a blowtorch on those places. If it is possible, after the cleaning and kashering, there is another step: covering it. If you can cover it, all the better. If you cannot, you can still use the cart after thoroughly cleaning and kashering it and using the blowtorch to burn away anything there. If you can

43:41 Speaker 2 cover it, all the better. That is how these carts and other institutional equipment are kashered. Of course, cover everything. As we said, we generally cover all the walls and everything else in the kitchen. After cleaning everything, we cover it as thoroughly as possible, so that nothing comes into contact with something that had contact with chametz. You cannot cover the floor, and you do not need to, because we wash and clean it thoroughly. That is also one of the reasons, at least, for the Chabad custom not to use something that falls on the floor during Pesach until after Pesach. We can clean the floor, but afterward people walk in with their shoes and come and go. You cannot know what has stuck to their shoes. So if something falls on the floor, we put it aside. If it is food that can be peeled, we peel it and eat it. If it is food that cannot be peeled, or if a utensil falls—a knife, a fork, or something else—we put it aside until after Pesach. After Pesach it can be used, and it can be used the following Pesach as well. In any case, with Hashem’s help, in the merit of observing these practices carefully and with hiddur, as we said, the Arizal says that someone who is careful about even the slightest amount of chametz on Pesach is assured that he will not sin throughout the entire year. It is good to be careful and observe all the stringencies of Pesach. So, with Hashem’s help, in this merit we will celebrate Pesach in the true and complete Geulah, when Hakadosh Boruch Hu

45:32 Speaker 2 will remove the yetzer hara from us and take away everything negative within us. Then we will celebrate Pesach in the third Beis Hamikdash, in the true and complete Geulah. There will be a few additions; I will mention some of them. How will we celebrate Pesach in the true and complete Geulah? First, we will have the korban Pesach. Everything we have discussed, and presumably the other classes you will hear as well, deals mainly with the laws of Pesach as they apply today. In the true and complete Geulah, we will need to learn many, many more laws concerning the korban Pesach. We will have a fifth question: “On all other nights we eat meat roasted, boiled, or cooked; on this night, it is all roasted.” We will have the fifth cup, the cup of Eliyahu Hanavi, of blessed memory. Today we do not drink it; we know it as Eliyahu Hanavi’s cup, and it reminds us of the true and complete Geulah. It is also taught that in the future there will no longer be death or anything negative. There is even an opinion, which the Alter Rebbe cites, that in the future we will not eat maror. Why? Maror has the same numerical value as “death,” and there will be no death: “He will swallow up death forever, and Hashem Elokim will wipe away tears from every face.” So, with Hashem’s help, may we merit to live and see the true and complete Geulah immediately, right now. Long live the King Moshiach.