In anticipation of Passover’s ritual cleansing and rebirth, (some) Jews scour their homes to remove every last crumb of chametz (leavened bread). Spiritually, chametz is associated with inflated ego or pride (just as the leavened bread itself is inflated). We are invited to free ourselves of our own psychological chametz, some elements of our own “puffed up” nature. This is similar to the process of Cheshbon HaNefesh (“accounting of the soul”) that we do before Yom Kippur. What patterns or beliefs would you like to free yourself of?

We’ll go around and ask everyone to introduce themselves and then say at least one other thing - either something you thought of that you’d like to leave behind, or if you don’t feel comfortable sharing that, feel free to say whatever is on your mind. Does someone want to start? And then we can popcorn after that (they will pass it to someone, who will speak and then pass it on to someone else, and so on).


haggadah Section: Introduction