Good preparation is better than hope for a miracle TB Pesakhim 6

The laws concerning hametz are many and complex. Today’s daf TB Pesakhim 6 discusses several halakhot that are still relevant today. All of today’s translations as usual are from Sefaria.org.

“The Sages taught in a baraita: With regard to a gentile who enters the courtyard of a Jew with his dough in his hand, the Jew need not remove the leaven by evicting the gentile from his property. However, if the gentile deposited the leaven with him, and the Jew accepted responsibility, he must remove it. If he designated a room in his house for the gentile to place his leavened food, he need not remove it, as it is stated: “It shall not be found” (Exodus 12:19).” For those of us who have to go to work during Hol Hamoed Pesakh, the intermediate days of Passover, we need not be concerned when a non-Jewish coworker brings his hametz into our work area.

“Rav Yehuda said that Rav said: One who finds leavened bread in his house on the Festival, i.e., the first day of Passover, covers it with a vessel and burns it at the conclusion of the Festival day.” If you’ve accidentally missed a piece of hametz while doing your bedekat hametz (בדיקת חמץ), search for hametz, and find it on the Yom Tov, you can’t remove it because it is muktzeh. You don’t have to worry that you are violating the laws of hametz, because you have already annulled it (ביטול חמץ) on the 14^th of Nisan. The reason why you need to cover it is simple. Since eating hametz is permitted 354 days out of the year, you may accidentally eat it on Passover without thinking and transgress. Covering the hametz serves as a reminder to refrain from eating it until you can take and destroy it when permitted.

“And Rav Yehuda said that Rav said: With regard to one who sets sail, or one who departs in a caravan traveling to a distant place; if he did so before it was thirty days prior to Passover, he need not remove the leaven from his possession. If he departs within thirty days of the Festival, he must remove the leaven.” Are you fortunate enough to spend Passover somewhere else besides your home? When do you have to do the bedikah and the biur, the elimination of hametz by fire? Abaye and Rava argue over the finer details of this halakha. Most of the poskim take a more stringent position because of the severity of the laws of hametz. (See Shulkhan Arukh, Orekh Hayyim, 436:1-2)

As you can see just from these three examples, one needs to review all the laws in order to observe Passover correctly. How much time is considered sufficient? “The Gemara asks: What is the purpose of this period of thirty days that renders it significant? The Gemara answers: As it was taught in a baraita: One asks about and teaches the halakhot of Passover thirty days before Passover.”

 Although Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel disagrees with the tanna kamma, the Shulkhan Arukh codifies the tanna kamma’s position. “We learn the halakhot of Pesach for 30 days before Pesach. RAMA: And it is customary to buy wheat to give to the poor for Pesach. And whoever is residing in the city for twelve months must give for this (Or Zarua).” (Orekh Hayyim, 429:1)

I highly recommend that you not only review all the laws of Passover 30 days before the holiday, but also spend this time preparing for the Seder. Because too many people open up the Haggadah for the very first time at the Seder table, the Seder is so boring that people ask the fifth question, “When do we eat?” Creating an engaging Seder takes time and preparation. Are you using a Haggadah that sparks meaningful conversation or one because it’s free even though it uses archaic language? Do you prepare outside readings and songs to enliven the Seder? Do you ask your guests to contribute something to the Seder above and beyond food? The more you prepare the better your Seder will be. Alexander Graham Bell said it best, “Before anything else preparation is the key to success.”