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4.17.2008

Searching, seeking, finding!

I am spending the evening getting ready for Pesach. Yes, just the evening, and a few hours tomorrow. "Evening" may extend into "early morning hours," actually. I have no idea how I'm going to get everything done. I am supposed to kasher the microwave in my apartment tonight, but I don't know if I will have time.

Anyway, that's not what I stopped seeking chametz to write about. What I stopped to write about was the process of looking for stuff. (Specifically, I should be looking for chametz, without a bracha, tonight, since I will be heading to my sister's tomorrow afternoon. So far, I have found a bunch of kitniyot in my room--cough drops and Lemon Heads.)

More interestingly, though, I was looking for something for a few minutes, and it was in my pocket the whole time. I wondered what to make of that, metaphorically speaking. I think that we often look far and wide for things and they turn out to be in our pockets the whole time, so to speak. This time, it was just one of those fat Sharpie markers--no harm done. I used something else (a thin Sharpie marker) and found the fat one in my pocket (where I had put it so that it would be handy, knowing I would need it) after it was no longer useful.

What else have I been looking for tonight? I spent about an hour looking for two slim green (for chag ha'aviv) binders in which I collected some Pesach Torah last year. I am leading a seder again, for the third year in a row, and I need to prepare on Shabbat. (I won't have time before then.) Okay, let me rephrase that. I will not be preparing for the seder on Shabbat, erev Pesach, but, rather, will be learning Pesach Torah for its own sake. I find this stuff fascinating on its own, regardless of any future seder-leading responsibilities. I found them, after looking through 20+ boxes (from my move last August; most of the still-packed boxes contain books and papers) and sustaining a gash (okay, a small cut) on my right index finger.

Now that I have found my Sharpie (which I no longer need) and my Pesach Torah (which I definitely need), I need to go and actually look for some chametz, so as to fulfill the mitzvah of bedikat chametz in my own house. Without a bracha since it isn't erev Pesach or even erev erev Pesach (since that is when the mitzvah falls out this year, Thursday night). I don't think I need to use a candle/flashlight and a feather, do I? I guess I will do the flashlight thing. I'm not purposely putting stuff out to find because I'm not making a bracha anyway, so there's no fear of bracha l'vatala.

Chag sameyach, everyone!

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Comments:
Interesting post - I personally vote for using a flashlight to avoid getting wax all over the floor, but I suppose there is something to be said for using a candle.

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