#4: Cleaning for Pesach (Part 3)
- One must clean all locations in one’s house in which chametz may have potentially been brought by anyone, including children (Shulchan Aruch, O.C. 433:3; Mishna Berura 433:19). In most homes, this includes all rooms, such as the living room, dining room, hallways, bedrooms, bathrooms, and basements (R. Shimon Eider, Halachos of Pesach, p.70). In some homes, storage rooms or attics need not be cleaned, if one is certain that chametz was never brought there during the rest of the year by anyone (Shulchan Aruch, ibid.), including children, such as if the room is normally locked.
- One must clean the kitchen and surfaces where food is normally placed extra carefully (e.g., food pantries, counters, refrigerators, tables). Even those opinions that do not require cleaning crumbs less than the size of a k’zayit agree that one must carefully clean these areas to prevent even tiny crumbs of chametz from being mixed in with Pesach food and being accidentally consumed (Bedikat Chametz Ubiuro 3:3; Oholei Halachah p.25). For this reason, many cover these surfaces with an additional covering to ensure that no chametz crumbs are mixed in with Pesach food.
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Dedicated by Fran Broder as a zechus for the hostages to be released safely to their families and may everlasting peace come to Eretz Yisrael in the merit of learning Hilchos Shabbos.
