Preparing for Pesach (Pop Goes the Weasel)

 

Passover is almost upon us - and the cleaning season is beginning!   Mishnah Pesachim begins, as our season does, with the removal of chametz (leavened product) from the house. Just before Pesach begins, it tells us, we engage with the process of b'dikat chametz (checking for chametz). Mishnah 1:1 assures us that places we would never take chametz do not need to be checked.   Mishnah 1:2 poses a problem. Okay, sure, you might not take toast into the shower, but you're not in complete control of the world. What if there's a crumb on the floor, and the cat picks it up and takes it into the shower?   .אֵין חוֹשְׁשִׁין שֶׁמָּא גָרְרָה חֻלְדָּה מִבַּיִת לְבַיִת וּמִמָּקוֹם לְמָקוֹם, דְּאִם כֵּן, מֵחָצֵר לְחָצֵר וּמֵעִיר לְעִיר, אֵין לַדָּבָר סוֹף   They need not fear that a weasel may have dragged [chametz] from one room to another or from one place to another, for if so, [they must also fear] from courtyard to courtyard and from town to town, and there would be no end to the matter.   Phew. It is in-built into the rules that we don't need to fret too much over the things that are so far beyond our control, because if we did that, we would spiral into paranoia forever. Pesach is a time that can heighten anxieties, but it needn't be.   We start with the things in our control. Let the weasels be weasels.