B. Shira Levine
Navigating new wilderness

Passover kashering part 2

OK, I’m now less than a week out and feeling, uh, afflicted. Last week I was on planes four out of five days.  I’m also dealing with some unusual stress following a car accident in January, as well as some minor medical concerns.

Perhaps trying to juggle pre-Passover burdens + life realities puts us in that place of not enough time – eating matza to recall having no time to let bread rise is one thing, but slogging through the two weeks before this Passover has been quite a reenactment of aiming to achieve the impossible.

Since my last update, I have

  • cleaned a giant stone from the yard to use for kashering.
  • attempted to kasher our biggest metal pot using the stone. arguably this wasn’t effective because I didn’t kasher the stove first.
  • soaked some glass cookware in the bathtub (I read that you’re not even allowed to do this with glass cookware but I’m doing it anyway.)
  • thrown away all the chametz in the fridge, as well as all expired non-chametz in the fridge
  • put all the chametz in the freezer on the top shelf

Stuff I still need to do (and have done in some form in the past)

  • run self clean cycle on oven
  • Clean fridge and microwave
  • clean pantry
  • clean cupboards
  • boil metal utensils
  • pour boiling water all over counters and sink
  • tape cabinets
  • Get out the disposable stuff to use during the holiday
  • shopping for more disposable stuff and for some kitchen stuff to replace

Additional stuff I want to do this year

  • cover surfaces (countertops, etc.)
  • handle freezer in some fashion (in the past I’ve marked it “do not use” at best)
  • put the stove grates in the self-cleaning oven
  • accomplish some organizational tasks
  • wait the 24 hours after cleaning the sink to pour the boiling water over it
  • do an actual “search for chametz” – this is probably not happening in the traditional way this year given that I’m away for work from Tuesday until Friday morning

… maybe I’m not *supposed* to feel completely clean and organized even at the end of this process?

About the Author
B. Shira Levine writes about Jewish spirituality and observance, parenting, intersectionality, and the U.S. and Atlanta Jewish communities. Views are her own and not those of her employer, synagogues, or any other organization.
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