Bad News

Since I had a box of unopened Twinings Irish Breakfast tea, I decided to email the KLBD regarding whether the box was kosher l'Pesach year-round. Here was the response (they are amazingly quick, btw; I sent the email erev Shabbos! ).

Kosher.org.uk - Message From Website
From: Kosher Info (info@kosher.org.uk)
Dear ____

Twinings Irish Breakfast Tea is not Kosher for Pesach.

Kind regards

Michal

Michal Eder
Kashrut Researcher
Kashrut Division

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There you have it. I'll have to settle for Wizzotsky tea for me over Pesach, it seems. Unless someone knows where to find kosher l'Pesach Red Rose. Gosh, do I miss that brand. And please, don't even bother suggesting Lipton. I'll never forget the first time I drank a cup; I had the distinct feeling that I was drinking recycled tea. YUCK.

STILL Pesach Cleaning...

So, I thought I was in pretty good shape. Then I made The List of what's left to do. DARN IT!

I know that the reward is in direct relation to the suffering involved, but can't a gal catch a break already? I was really looking forward to this year being the year when I broke the cycle, and was actually ready a few days before. Not a week mind you- just like, Monday. Versus Wednesday morning when it's time to burn chometz.

On a plus note, when I saw some shmutz on my keyboard today that I had failed to catch yesterday and subsequently cleaned it up, I didn't do the frenzied clean up afterward. My response instead was Whatever! Baby steps...

Is It Pesach Yet?

Yes Pesach is over a week away. But I am SO over cleaning after yet another full day of scrubbing with steel wool and blowing through rolls of paper towels. Since it's down to the crunch in terms of cleaning and shopping, I can now look forward to added stress because who wants to redo already cleaned areas, chasve shalom? So, rather than deal with the extra caution I'm going to have to exert until a week Wednesday, I just want the whole penultimate week to be over and done with.

Let's get this party started already!

Belated Purim Question

Inspired by Barb Chansky (see Barb's World), I had a belated question spawned by Purim.

Having witnessed the usual parade of Esthers and Mordechais, etc. etc. for yet another year, I had to ponder: why don't girls want to be Vashti? When I was a kid, that's what I wanted to dress up as! Esther was so BORING. I mean, why be the Good Witch of the East, when you can be the Wicked Witch of the West??? We all know the WWotW is oh so much cooler than the Good Witch. Why else would "Wicked" be such a huge phenomenon?

But then again, we all know that I'm not exactly the litmus test for what's normal...

A Flutter of Feathers

There I was in Moishas this evening, finishing off a bit of preliminary Pesach shopping (read: I bought my Shabbos toothbrush/toothpaste) when an image hit me. I would imagine that all of the birds in Flatbush are currently being very well fed, what with the kilos of chometz being strewn upon the streets whily-nily.

So can't you picture it? Flocks upon flocks of fat, stuffed-to-the-girls birdies! For one month a year, the birds develop a weight problem, LOL.

(Hmm. I wonder what Barack Obama has to say on that one...?)

Purification Central

I keep meaning to write down a dvar Torah, and then keep right on forgetting. It really is the pre-Pesach crunch! Anyway, here's a thought that occurred to me earlier this week.

In the 4 parshot leading up to Pesach, we have detailed accounts of the mishkan and other holy vessels, the bigday kehuna, and various sacrifices recounted. What is the correlation between these accounts and our proximity to Pesach?

In the 4 weeks between Purim and Pesach, we are busy scouring our houses, ridding ourselves, our possessions, and our property of chometz. As we know, on a symbolic level, chometz represents the negative side of the spiritual equation: tumah, averos, etc. The very purpose of our cleaning is to elevate ourselves spiritually in preparation for our spiritual commemoration of the exodus. Similarly, the purpose of the mishkan, the bigday kehunah, the sacrifice services, and so forth were to each atone for any short-comings, chasve shalom, of the klal.

Thus, just as the Pesach offering and exodus cleansed the klal of the tumah of slavery, and set them in an upwards spiritual arc that culminated in the revelation at Har Sinai, so now Pesach cleaning prepares us for the reliving of the exodus on Pesach. Similarly, just as the the holiness of the vessels, garments, and sacrifices atoned for the klal during the eras between the exiles, so too does the retelling of these holy articles help cleanse us in preparation for the spiritual geulah on Pesach. And in the merit of such cleansing, the eternal hope is that this Pesach will mark the beginning of the ultimate geulah, with the coming of Mosiach.

Bachelor Advice?

I called my big brother a while ago to ask what he would do about my stove/oven situation for Pesach. I figured that since he's a bachelor, he could weigh in on whether I should bother with trying to kasher the old-as-heck stove or just sell it and buy a single burner for $10.

Problem is, it seems that I can do neither. In fact, it would seem (to my utter horror), that I will in fact have to clean both the stove and the oven regardless of whether or not they're sold. I'm still in disbelief. What about my easy Pesach cleaning this year? What about my avoiding doing anything to aggravate my mid-section? WHERE'S MY GET OUT OF JAIL FREE CARD?

Say it with me people: Waaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh! I'm so over these preparations already...Well, at least I'll be supporting the local supermarket with my lifetime supply of scouring pads...