Search for Chometz

April 10, 2009

090410chometzsearch Search for Chometz

Carol asked what happens to the chometz (leavened products) we haven’t eaten by the time Passover starts. I answered in the comments on that post. Here’s how I conduct the search for chometz: Once the kitchen is completely turned over and the chometz put away (mine is in a covered bin under our piano), I place a few reserved pieces of chometz around the downstairs. This year, on Tuesday night, I put chometz in three places — our dining room table, our coffee table in the living room, and on my computer desk. I held a cup, A. took feather duty, and G. led us on the search using a flashlight (you’re supposed to use a candle, but my kids are not old enough for that yet!). We went from room to room, looking for the chometz I’d left out. When we found it, it was swept into the cup with the feather. At the end of the search, we left the cup on the table for a final blessing on Wednesday.

This year I added a little levity to our chomtez search by using teddy-shaped graham crackers. I like how one of the crackers is staring out at us in this photo, resigned to his fate. Technically, on the morning after the search, you’re supposed to burn the chometz you collected the night before. My mom and I just toss it in the garbage after saying the final blessing. So this teddy avoided immolation and being eaten. The final blessing is asking that any chometz you accidentally missed should be regarded as “null and void as the dust of the earth.”

After the final blessing on Wednesday morning, I changed the tablecloth on my dining room table and considered my house 100% ready for the holiday.