Getting your kitchen ready for Pesah

TODAY IS ROSH HODESH NISAN

                                 

Sink and countertops: The sink, even when made of porcelain, should be cleaned by pouring on it boiling water. Countertops and kitchen-tables, if possible, it should be poured on them boiling water. If that is not possible they should be thoroughly cleaned or covered in order to use them for Pesaḥ. For a regular table, after it is cleaned, the custom is to use a Pesaḥ or a new tablecloth.

  

Dishwasher: A day before Pesaḥ, after the dishwasher is completely clean, it has to run on an empty cycle without dishes but with detergent.  Then the dishwasher becomes ready for Pesaḥ use.  Rabbi Eliyahu Ben-Hayim recommends to replace the dishwasher racks or to use some kind of an added base to cover them, in order to avoid a direct contact of the Pesaḥ utensils with the year round racks.  The reason for this stricter stand for the dishwasher is that unlike an oven or a microwave, where only the absorbed vapors need to be eliminated, in the dishwasher, tangible ḥameṣ (ḥameṣ ba'ayin) might be present, which makes its cleaning more difficult.

Oven:  The oven should not be used for 24 hours.  Then it must go thorough a deep cleaning.  Second, if it is a self-cleaning oven, we have to do one self-clean cycle and then it becomes ready forPesaḥ.  If it is not a self-cleaning oven, after we thoroughly clean it, we let the oven run on the highest temperature-setting, for an hour, including the racks. Then the oven is Kosher for Pesaḥ.

  

Microwave:  Take a bowl of water, with some detergent or soap in it, and let it boil in the microwave until the microwave walls are filled with its steam. The vapor penetrates the walls rendering the microwave Kosher for Pesaḥ. If you can't do this and you need to use a year-round microwave during Pesaḥ, cover completely the food in a container or Ziploc products, Saran wrap or any other hermetic microwavable (and safe!) covers.  

PESAH: Getting your kitchen Kosher for Pesah (1 of 2)

During Pesaḥ, it is not permitted to use the same cooking utensils or tableware that was used year-round for ḥameṣ.  It is customary and most recommendable to have a separate set of cookware and tableware for Pesaḥ.  If this is not possible, one can still use the year round utensils after a process known as hag'ala, which is a kind of sterilization.  The rational of the hag'ala is that the ḥameṣ absorbed in the walls of any utensil will be expelled when that utensil is exposed to the same circumstances in which the absorption occurred in the first place (kebol'o kakh polto).  

  

 Absorption will take place only at high temperatures, thus, if a utensil was used only  for cold food, it could be used during Pesaḥ after thoroughly cleaning it, without any further hag'ala. 

Some examples of hag'ala:

Metal: Tableware like forks, spoons or knives have to be thoroughly cleaned and then immersed in a pot of boiling water.  Afterwards, they need to be washed with cold water and then they can be used for Pesaḥ. Hot water opens the pores of the utensils, allowing the expulsion of the absorbed ḥameṣ.  The cold water closes the pores again. 

Glass: According to the Sephardic Minhag, glass utensils like cups or plates used throughout the year for ḥameṣ should be thoroughly washed and they can then be used for Pesaḥ without any further hag'ala.   Glass utensils do not absorb anything thru their pores and therefore they do no expel any substance thru them.  This is applicable even when the glass utensils are used at high temperatures.  It should be noticed that this Halakha is radically different for the Ashkenazi custom.

Porcelain  ( kele ḥeres): Ceramic, pottery or porcelain china and tableware that we use throughout the year for ḥameṣ are not suitable for Pesaḥ.  In other words, they are an exception because hag'ala cannot sterilize them completely. Therefore year round porcelain or ceramic utensils should not be used for Pesaḥ.

Click HERE to obtain very important information on rice types and brands for PESAH 2013  

In this document  I quote verbatim the information I got from Mr. Shmuel and Mrs. Mojgan Liviem, as per Rabbi Eliyahu Ben Hayim, and the information published by Rabbi Yehuda Boroosan, regarding the use of rice for Pesah 2013.

Information on Rice for Pesah 2013

1. From Mr. Shmuel and Mojgan Liviem, as per Rabbi Eliyahu Ben Hayim. 

“Passover Rice Information 2013"                                                          

   As per phone conversations with rice importers and receipt of confirmation letters from them, Rabbi Eliyahu Ben Haim has confirmed that the following brands of rice are 100% pure, are not enriched, and have no additives or preservatives. Therefore, they are suitable for use on Passover. 

The brands are as follows:

LALQUILA

SHAHZADEH

PARI

ROYAL

ZEBRA

DEER  

TILDA

QILLA

INDIAN STAR BASMATI

ROYAL BROWN

Please avoid any enriched rice.

2. From Rabbi Yehuda Boroosan, Atlanta, GA. 

“Rice is a primary staple food for many people.  When  rice  is processed into white  rice, the fiber and nutrient rich outer  bran  is stripped first, leaving behind the germ and endosperm. In many cases, the nutritious germ is lost as well during the polishing process. As a result, white  rice  is not terribly nutritious, naturally. Therefore,  the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires that any rice labeled  “enriched”,  regardless of its point of origin - whether domestically grown or imported - must contain at least the minimum level thiamin, niacin, iron and folic acid as specified in the Code of Federal Regulations. “Organic Rice’ on the other hand may not contain other nutrients, in compliance with the regulations  set forth by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM). Although the USDA does not require any import permit to import processed “Natural Rice” such as Basmati, Jasmine, etc., without enrichment,  for food consumption to the US, in some countries abroad the trend has become to enrich their natural rice that is intended for import purposes. Consequently, please use the following chart as the reference to purchase qualified kosher rice for Pesach.”

   

See THIS table