trying this for the 1st time

[Meerkat]

i will try to keep 1 week without consuming chametz. 1st time attempting this.


any advice you can give me on how to remember?

what products should i avoid?

[Dr. Dan]

Really?  The only verbs you should rest are matza. Everything else natural is fine

[muman613]

http://www.chabad.org/holidays/passover/pesach_cdo/aid/1742/jewish/What-is-Chametz.htm

What is Chametz?

Chametz is any food product made from wheat, barley, rye, oats, spelt, or their derivatives, which has leavened (risen). Our sages have determined that flour from any of these five grains that comes in contact with water or moisture will leaven, unless fully baked within eighteen minutes. As we are commanded by the Torah, if a food contains even a trace of chametz, we don’t eat it, we don’t derive benefit from it, and we make sure not to have any of it in our possession for all the days of Passover.

To be certain that a product is kosher for Passover, it must have rabbinical certification. Otherwise it is possible that it contains chametz ingredients, or traces of chametz if it was processed on the same equipment as chametz products. Thus, unless a product is certified Kosher for Passover, we consider it chametz, and make sure not to have it in our possession on Passover.

Note: Matzah used all year round might be pure chametz, and not for Passover use. Only matzahs baked especially for Passover may be used on Passover.

http://www.chabad.org/holidays/passover/pesach_cdo/aid/1686/jewish/More-on-Chametz.htm

More on Chametz
By Eliyahu Kitov

What do we actually mean when we say chametz?

Any flour of the five species of grain, which is mixed with water and allowed to ferment before being baked, comes under the definition of chametz according to the Torah. The five species of grain are wheat, spelt, oats, barley, and rye.

The Sages established that the time necessary for the fermentation process to take place is eighteen minutes after water has been added to the flour; i.e., if water is added to the flour and nothing else was done to the mixture for eighteen minutes, the mixture becomes chametz.

The time when the mixture is being processed, kneading and rolling it out, is not part of these eighteen minutes. However, once the dough has been kneaded, we are careful not to leave it for a moment. By kneading it or otherwise working with it, the fermentation process is delayed and the mixture will not become chametz.

If the flour was mixed with only fruit juice or with eggs, it does not become chametz. However, because we fear that the water may inadvertently be mixed with the fruit juice or with the eggs, we do not do this; moreover, some authorities hold that fruit juice does ferment.

Chametz may not be consumed on Passover, either by eating it, or dissolving it in water and drinking it, and no benefit may be derived from it. It must be either burned or destroyed of in some manner.

Even a minute particle of chametz is forbidden on Passover. Even if the amount of chametz in a mixture is only 1/1000th of the total, the entire mixture is forbidden as chametz!

However, if chametz became mixed into food before Passover, it is nullified, provided that it is less than 1/60th of the volume of the entire mixture and that it has become completely dissolved into the mixture and cannot be discerned.

It is forbidden to eat chametz from midday on the fourteenth of Nissan, that is, from the beginning of the seventh hour. One who transgresses this prohibition is subject to lashes according to the Torah, for the verse states (Deuteronomy 16:3): You shall not eat chametz with it [the Paschal sacrifice]. The traditional explanation for this verse is that the prohibition of eating chametz starts from the time when the Passover sacrifice could be offered after midday of the fourteenth of Nissan.

The Sages, in order to prevent people from transgressing the prohibition inadvertently, decreed that the prohibition of eating and deriving benefit from chametz starts at the beginning of the sixth hour. Thus, during the sixth hour, the prohibition is Rabbinic; afterwards the prohibition is from the Torah.

One who willfully eats a piece of chametz which is as big as an olive, from the night of the fifteenth of Nissan until the end of the twenty first of Nissan incurs the penalty called karet, Divine excision, for the verse states: For whoever eats chametz, that soul shall be cut off from Israel (Exodus, 12:15).

One is permanently forbidden to derive any benefit from chametz which remained in one's possession during Passover. This prohibition is a penalty which the Sages levied to punish the person for having transgressed the Torah prohibitions of not seeing or having chametz in one's possession during Passover.

This penalty applies whether the chametz remained in his possession on purpose or by accident or through oversight. The Sages levied this penalty so that people would not leave chametz in their possession for use after Passover (ibid.).

   
Rabbi Eliyahu Kitov, OBM, was one of Israel's most acclaimed religious authors, whose books on the Jewish way of life and the Chassidic movement have become renowned. Text translated from the Hebrew by Nachman Bulman and Dovid Landseman.
Excerpted from: The Book of Our Heritage. Published and copyright by Feldheim Publications

The content on this page is copyrighted by the author, publisher and/or Chabad.org, and is produced by Chabad.org. If you enjoyed this article, we encourage you to distribute it further, provided that you comply with the copyright policy.

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[muman613]

Halachas of Chametz:


http://www.torah.org/learning/halacha-overview/chapter16.html

16. Leaven and Unleavened Bread - Chametz u-Matzah

a) Leaven

It is forbidden to derive benefit from leaven (chametz) or leavened food on Pesach, as it says "Leaven shall not be eaten" -- "it shall not be permitted in any way that leads to eating".1 One who keeps leaven in his possession on Pesach even if he does not eat it violates "No leavening shall be seen in all your border"2 and "Leavening shall not be found in your houses"3,a. It is also forbidden to derive benefit from leaven after noon of the day before Pesach, as it says "You shall not eat leaven with it (i.e., with the Pesach sacrifice)"4; the sages extended this prohibition to the hour before noon and forbade eating leaven beginning two hours before noon.b It is rabbinically forbidden to derive benefit after Pesach from leaven which was in the possession of a Jew during Pesach.c If leaven becomes mixed with other things it is still forbidden to eat it on Pesach, as it says "You shall not eat anything leavened"5; but after Pesach it is permitted.d

We are commanded to dispose of leaven before it becomes forbidden to eat it, as it says "On the first day you shall dispose of leavening from your houses"6; "first day" here means the day before Pesach, as it says "You shall not slaughter My sacrifice on leaven" -- "you shall not slaughter the Pesach sacrifice while leaven still exists".7 The disposal to which the Torah refers consists of annulling it in one's mind and regarding it as dust; rabbinically one must also search for it and remove it from one's premises. The search is done by candlelight on the evening of the day before Pesache; the leaven found must be destroyed by an hour before noon the following morning. If the day before Pesach is the sabbath the search is conducted a day earlier, and only enough leaven to eat on the morning of the sabbath is kept.f One may also sell his leaven to a non-Jew and buy it back after Pesach.g

Forbidden leaven is that made from five types of grain (wheat, spelt, barley, rye, oats).h When making unleavened bread for Pesach (see below) one must be careful not to let it become leaven, as it says "And you shall guard the unleavened bread".8,i

b) Unleavened Bread

We are commanded to eat on the first evening of Pesach unleavened bread (matzah) made from one of the five types of grain, as it says "In the evening you shall eat unleavened bread".9,j It is rabbinically forbidden to eat matzah on the day before Pesach, to eat heavily during the latter part of that day, and to eat anything after the last piece of matzah in the evening.k The Pesach sacrifice was eaten with both matzah and bitter herbs (maror); the sages instituted that maror as well as matzah be eaten on that evening even in the absence of the Pesach sacrifice, and they also instituted dipping the maror in charoses, a mixture of fruits resembling mortar.l

On that same evening we are commanded to recount the miracles and marvels that were performed for our ancestors in Egypt, as it says "Remember this day when you went out of Egypt",10 and it says "And you shall tell your son on that day: `Because of this'" -- "at a time when matzah and maror lie before you".11 In particular one must mention [i.e., explain the significance of] three things: the Pesach sacrifice, matzah, and maror.m

In every generation one should regard himself as though he personally had come out of the Egyptian bondage, as it says "And He took us out of there"12; concerning this the Torah commands "And you shall remember that you were a slave [in Egypt]".13 One should therefore eat and drink that evening in a reclining position, like a free man, and everyone is required to drink four cups of wine.n

[דוד בן זאב אריה]

All Fruits and Veggies are okay. There should be a pesach Section where you are. Even in the small towns they have a small section at the supermarkets. Stay away from starches.

[muman613]

So, how's it going?

Did you get any matzah? I hope it is not too late to get some...