Pesach Guide 5761/2001

1. Floors: Sweep and rinse well with detergent or floor cleaner.

2. Food cabinets: If the cabinet is going to be used on Pesach, take out all the food; wash around it with a rag soaked in detergent. Be sure the detergent goes into all the cracks and soaks into any crumbs of chametz which may be there. Although this is technically sufficient, many prefer to line the cabinets with paper as well.

3. Refrigerator: After taking the food out, wipe the interior with a rag soaked in detergent. Some are accustomed to covering the racks, however this should be done with care, so as not to impair the circulation of the cold air within.

4. Clothing cupboards: If there is a real possibility that chametz went into them, they should be checked for fully edible crumbs of chametz. If the probability that chametz entered these places is remote, a rabbinic authority can be consulted to establish the conditions under which they do not have to be checked. This includes chests, dressers, basements, attics and all other similar cases.

5. Sinks: Sinks must be kashered as follows: Clean the sinks and pour a kettle of boiling water into them and on their sides, ensuring that the water, while still boiling hot, touches all the surfaces. It is preferable to line the sink (e.g. with tin foil or contact paper) or to use an insert. However, with metal sinks this is not actually necessary.

6. Tabletops: Wash them with a detergent; however, they are usually covered (with a non-porous material) as well.

7. Kitchen counters: Since they may have been used for hot chametz, they should be cleaned well and kashered through pouring boiling water on them. Ideally, they should be covered as well.

8. Taps: Cleaning, without any other kashering procedures, is sufficient.

9. Cooker/oven/stove: Top - Wipe it with a rag soaked in detergent and cover it with tin foil (optional). Grates and the surface itself can be kashered by covering the entire area with two layers of heavy duty aluminium foil, lighting all the burners, and raising them to their maximum heat. Let it burn for 5-10 minutes. (Of course, the exhaust fan, if you have one, should be turned on to draw off the heat.)

Oven - Wipe it with a rag soaked in detergent. If you suspect that there are crumbs left, then clean the oven with any of the regular oven-cleaners, and afterwards turn on the oven to its maximum temperature for 30-40 minutes.

NB When Kashering items they must first be cleaned and then left for 24 hours without use before actual Kashering

10. Food processor: A Rabbi should be consulted.

11. Pots, pans, dishes and cutlery: Whatever is not going to be used for Pesach should be put away and locked up. If there is actual chametz, it should also be sold.

12. Clothes, blankets etc: If they have been washed in a detergent, there is no need to worry, even if you find crumbs in them on Pesach. Pockets of clothes not being washed or dry-cleaned need only to be checked for chametz, and then wiped out with a rag soaked in detergent. Of course, clothes which will not be worn on Pesach can be put away without being checked, since all the actual chametz in them has been sold.

Pesach timetable 5761/2001

Rabbi Shisler will be available prior to Pesach to sell your Chametz for you. Please contact him via the Synagogue Office and he will ask you to complete and sign a short document empowering him to sell your chametz that may still be in your locked cupboards over Pesach so that you do not legally own any over the Festival. Alternatively you can click here and sell your chametz online.

For details of all times of services over Pesach click here.