{"id":543,"date":"2020-03-31T17:28:12","date_gmt":"2020-03-31T17:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/feedmethewordtoday.com\/?p=543"},"modified":"2020-07-24T22:28:45","modified_gmt":"2020-07-24T22:28:45","slug":"passover-chief-rabbis-says-dont-leave-home-to-burn-chametz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/udiwonder.com\/word\/passover-chief-rabbis-says-dont-leave-home-to-burn-chametz\/","title":{"rendered":"Passover: Chief Rabbis says Don\u2019t leave home to burn chametz"},"content":{"rendered":"

For Passover people should not leave their homes to burn hametz or kasher pots and pans, Chief Rabbis Yitzhak Yosef and David Lau ruled Tuesday.<\/span><\/p>\n

New instructions for religious observance issued by Chief Rabbis Yitzhak Yosef and David Lau in light of new coronavirus<\/a> restrictions<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

They issued rulings regarding preparations for the upcoming holiday, which begins next Wednesday evening, April 8, and for general religious observance in light of government restrictions to stem the\u00a0coronavirus<\/a> pandemic.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Passover, no bread or other leavened products may be consumed or stored at home. Observant Jews burn their remaining leavened products, often in communal bonfires, on the morning before Passover begins.<\/span><\/p>\n

People should forgo the custom this year and instead throw their hametz in a garbage bin and pour bleach on it to render it inedible, the chief rabbis said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Because Halacha forbids eating hametz on\u00a0Passover<\/a>, pots and pans specifically for the holiday need to be used. Alternatively, everyday vessels can be put into boiling water or heated to high temperatures by a blow torch or other means.<\/span><\/p>\n

In normal times, numerous stations are established around the country where people may kasher their everyday pots in these ways. But they will not be permitted this year by government regulations.<\/span><\/p>\n

The chief rabbis suggested that pots and pans without plastic, wood or rubber parts can be put in a clean oven, which itself does not to be kosher for Passover, with the oven set to its highest temperature for 20 minutes.<\/span><\/p>\n

They said this solution should only be used this year, implying that it is a leniency that would not normally be employed.<\/span><\/p>\n

If an individual buys new vessels such as pots, pans, cutlery or crockery, the chief rabbis said if immersing them in a mikveh (ritual bath) for vessels as is required by Jewish law is impossible, they may be given to a non-Jew and then loaned back for Passover.<\/span><\/p>\n

Halacha requires that any metal, glass or porcelain vessels made by a non-Jew must be first immersed in a mikveh before use by a Jew.<\/span><\/p>\n

If giving to a non-Jew is not possible, the rabbis said this process can be done via its website.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Tzohar rabbinical association has also provided online facilities for this process.<\/span><\/p>\n

Selling hametz to a non-Jew can be done via the Chief Rabbinate\u2019s website or other rabbinical organizations.<\/span><\/p>\n

Current regulations ban public prayer, including outdoors. Everyone should pray by themselves at home but at the same time as their usual prayer service, the chief rabbis said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mikvaot for women remain open, while those for men must be shut, according to the regulations, since immersion for men is not a halachic obligation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:<\/p>\n