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Weekly Thought
by Rabbi Shimon Raichik
As everyone is preparing for פסח there are lots of הלכות and מנהגים we should be aware of. Every מנהג has to be based in הלכה and there’s no basis to have מנהגים which has no base in הלכה. On the other hand we can’t be lenient on מנהגים which we do have.
There’s a story told that once someone came to the רבי' רש"ב and told him how great machine מצה is. The רבי' רש"ב responded with a משל: Once Czar Nicholas wanted to see what a ברית was so he disguised himself and went to see a ברית being performed. He saw the מוהל washing his hands with alcohol, cleaning the knife, and making sure that everything was clean and sterilized. After the ברית was done, the Czar saw the מציצה- how the מוהל sucks out the blood with his mouth. The Czar said: “everything is fine and good but do you have to eat from it?” The רבי' רש"ב explained: Things can be fine and good, but not everything that is kosher for פסח do we have to eat. Especially in our times where Baruch Hashem we are living in a country where we can buy more on פסח than all year round, even non געבראקס. This story gives us a guideline in how to conduct ourselves.
There is a custom by אידן that on פסח we are more careful than the entire year because of the strictness of פסח. As Lubavitchers we are careful in געבראקס. The פריערדיקער רבי' says (in ספר השיחות תש'ג page 64), that when his father would eat מצה he wouldn’t eat any other food or drink with it. But, he would eat מצה with milk or wine that was so guarded that not even a drop of water went into the wine or milk. We see from here that the רביים did eat מילכיג. It’s not a custom of חב"ד not to eat מילכיג. With that said, we don’t have to eat every מילכיג product that’s Kosher for פסח. In today’s times, all milk and cheeses are processed and contain some water, therefore, to dip מצה in wine or milk or to toast cheese on מצה is not okay if you’re careful with געבראקס.
The רבי' רש"ב was so careful that when he bought produce for פסח, he didn’t buy in a store that sold חמץ. You shouldn’t buy in a store that has חמץ right near the פסח food. If the store does sell חמץ, make sure the counter is covered before you put your פסח food down on it.
For many of the הלכות of פסח, please check out the Chabad Chodesh on-line. The web site will also have stories of פסח by the רביים and סדרים by the רבי'. Please check it out.
Wishing you all a כשר און פרייליכן פסח.
P.S. Please come as early as possible to sell your חמץ!!!!
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