COMMUNITY MEMBER STORY

Do you or a family member need to eat chametz (leavened products) on Pesach? You are not alone. Here is a story that a community member shared in order to support you:

 

"I just want to briefly share my Pesach-chametz story to give a word of encouragement (chizuk) to anyone who might need to hear this.

 

My wife & I are observant, love halachah (Jewish law), see the beauty of it and have chosen that as our religious path. I got smichah (rabbinic ordination) in the 1st year of marriage….

 

Fast forward a decade+ of marriage & multiple kids. Our elementary age son has a diagnosis of OCD & ARFID. ARFID is an eating disorder where the person [will eat] an extremely limited number of food items, prepared in exactly the right way…and trust me it’s not a choice to have this condition.

 

A few years ago Pesach was 3 days with Shabbat and our sweet little boy literally barely ate anything and was weak and emotionally distraught. We tried all different things the 3 days & he just couldn’t bring himself to eat almost anything. So scary & heartbreaking to watch. 

 

In the end he said he’d only eat bagels with plain cream cheese. As soon as havdallah was over we called our Rav (rabbi) and emphasized that this is now clearly a medical issue. Our rav asked different questions to make sure he understood our issue. He said he would consult with a colleague.

 

In the end he said that if we see that this is actually a dangerous medical condition, we absolutely should buy whatever he will eat. He said that it is up to us to understand the reality of the situation. Meaning, he empowered us to take the Torah knowledge and factual knowledge of our son into our own hands and make a choice of health. The Torah itself says that we have the power to choose, and that we choose life. And every year since, we buy, own, cook (and he) eats chametz, with full confidence in both our fealty to Torah and our responsibility as parents. I have no doubt whatsoever with the clarity of Mt Sinai that it is Hashem Almighty’s will that I own chametz on Pesach and feed it to my son.

 

And learning the halachah, no one in my family is having a panic attack that crumbs are magically going to get into the Pesach food and there is no stigma and we can eat at the same table and use the same sink and he is not banned from the kitchen or relegated to his own corner of chametzadik shame. We make a cabinet space for his chametz, and that’s that. If I need to use the stove, oven or toaster, I know how to do that without compromising the Pesach food. (I do prefer to have the conversation with him before Pesach and do the shopping so I don’t have to shop [for chametz] on Pesach, but I’ll do what he needs & I’m the type of guy that if my kid needs amoxicillin on Shabbat I’ll walk into CVS in a shtreimel without fear of raising eyebrows because I know I’m doing the right thing.)

 

THERE IS NO SHAME IN BEING THE WAY HASHEM CREATED US AND JUST DOING OUR HONEST BEST TO LIVE A GOOD LIFE.

 

God bless everyone & I truly hope we all have a wonderful chag, no matter what it is we need to eat."