
DATE: Monday, April 21, 1997                TAG: 9704190059

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY DIANE TENNANT, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  115 lines

CLEANING HOUSE TAKES A SPIRITUAL ASPECT AS PASSOVER NEARS

LEAH SCHWARTZ was so pleased when she found a half-eaten cookie in the closet.

Out of the house it went, and its little crumbs, too.

Painstakingly, for the past 30 days, the Schwartz family has scoured its home in the Ghent section of Norfolk for leavened products, for the crumbs of leavened products, even for the remnants of crumbs of leavened products, in preparation for Passover.

With three preschoolers trickling food in their wake, it hasn't been easy. However, Leah still smiles as she scours radiator openings for Cheerios. It is Passover and it is a celebration, and she finds contentment and freedom in the life she has chosen as an Orthodox Jew.

``It just depends on your attitude,'' she said. ``You can dread it or you can just enjoy it.

``You can really feel freedom through leading this kind of lifestyle. We trust that if God was the one who created us, he knew what lifestyle would be good for us.''

Passover celebrates the freeing of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, as told in the Book of Exodus. The eight-day holiday, which begins at sundown today, is heavy with ritual and remembrance, including the thorough housecleaning that begins at least 30 days before Passover.

The removal of leavened products commemorates the haste with which the Jews fled Egypt - they had no time to let their bread rise. To remember their affliction, today's observant Jews remove all leavened products from their houses, their cars and their Passover dinner, which is called a seder.

``The Passover seder does give a little insight into why we lead this kind of life,'' Leah said. ``I personally never was a slave in Egypt, so what does it mean to me? If you think about it, we're all slaves to something, usually to our desires, our jobs, TV, fashion. When you follow God's laws, you free yourselves from all those other things that can enslave you.''

Phil Schwartz tries to do his share of the Passover cleaning when he gets home from his job as a pension benefits analyst. That means vacuuming the car at 9:30 p.m. in search of cracker bits.

``I always thought I would have Passover in mind when I bought a house,'' he said. ``The larger, the more complex, the bigger the job.''

Some things are simplified: the baby's high chair is cleansed in the shower. If the girls are messy at mealtime, their clothes are changed in the kitchen lest they strew crumbs through already-cleaned rooms.

On the night before Passover, the Schwartzes conduct another ritual. By candle or flashlight, they search the house from top to bottom, seeking that last remnant of leavening. At the end, Phil formally disowns any item that might have been missed in the cleansing.

``Even though the cleaning seems onerous, the idea of cleaning also has its spiritual symbolism,'' he said.

Removed foods, household products and non-kosher dishes are packed away and ``sold'' to a non-Jew, who pays a deposit based on their value. After Passover ends, that person has the option of paying the whole value and keeping the items or taking his deposit back and returning the goods to the family.

``We try not to say, `We made it through the holiday' as if it's a burden,'' Phil said. ``We try to take something with us.''

The seder is conducted in a certain order, much of it geared toward encouraging children to ask questions. In that way, the children are educated about their Jewish heritage, and doors are opened for adults to discuss the meaning of the holiday deep into the night.

``Hopefully, it causes one to open his own mind,'' Phil said. ``That's why our learning is endless, because one has insight that another has not seen. There are people who do stay up all night and discuss it. I don't think we get to the meal until 12:30, quarter of one.''

The traditional foods of the seder are placed on a plate: an egg, a lamb shank, a green vegetable, bitter herbs, and a fruit/nut mixture that resembles the mortar used by Egyptian slaves.

Each has its own meaning. ``The seder itself has so much symbolism that reminds us of who we are and where we've come from and what we owe God,'' Phil said.

The discussion that flows around and through the seder increases understanding for children and adults alike, in keeping with the tradition that one never stops learning.

``That's the nice thing about Judaism and, I think, about life in general,'' Leah said. ``You're never done learning, and there's so much to know.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photos by TAMARA VONINSKI / The Virginian-Pilot

[Color photo]

Phil Schwartz, holding daughter Yehudis, 2, and wife Leah are

following Passover rituals, including special foods and a thorough

house cleaning.

Leah Schwartz vacuums her baby's playpen to rid it on any crumbs of

leavened food in preparation for Passover.

Graphic

WHAT IT MEANS

Pesach, the Hebrew word for Passover, is a seven-day festival

that commemorates the escape of the Israelites from slavery in

Egypt. The festival's name comes from Chapter 12 of Exodus, which

tells that God cursed the Egyptians by slaying the first-born son in