ב"ה
Tuesday, 25 Iyyar, 5786
  |  May 12, 2026

What Are Your Family’s Hidurim & Chumros on Pesach?

Question of the week: Many families faithfully keep hidurim and chumros (stringencies) with regard to what they eat on the yomtov of Pesach - especially among Lubavitcher families. What are your family's minhagim? Comments

L’Chaim: Azrielant – Babayov

Next Story »

Preparing For Pesach in Crown Heights

Subscribe
Notify of

75 Comments
oldest
newest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Each to his own.
April 4, 2023 3:37 pm

No milchigs

Our minhag on pesach is happiness.
April 4, 2023 3:55 pm

Obviously, there is Halacha.
But one of our top priorities is to make pesach a joyous and memorable Yom tov.
We always play music while working and make sure to have special treats for the kids.
We also try and have an interactive Seder that the kids look forward to!

We have a separate table for matza.
April 4, 2023 3:56 pm

We don’t eat matza at the regular table, only at the “matza table”.

I think minhagim are a beautiful thing.
April 4, 2023 3:58 pm

I always found other peoples minhagim so beautiful!
We sing the entire Maggid together and these tunes have been with us since before the war!
It feels so special and this is something I try to pass onto my kids!

I'd L♡VE to hear the melodies
Reply to  I think minhagim are a beautiful thing.
April 4, 2023 9:20 pm

Is there a recording of how this is done?

Hashem should give us strength!
April 4, 2023 4:00 pm

Hashem should bless yiddishe mames everywhere coach to pull through the next 24 hours!
We can do it!

Air Purifier
April 4, 2023 4:08 pm

we put Air Purifiers in every room, so there’s no chometz in the air

Is
Reply to  Air Purifier
April 4, 2023 4:46 pm

That a joke?

Pesach
Reply to  Is
April 4, 2023 6:46 pm

Yes

Lol
Reply to  Is
April 4, 2023 7:39 pm

Yes

i've heard of this
Reply to  Is
April 4, 2023 9:56 pm

no

Yum
Reply to  Air Purifier
April 4, 2023 6:08 pm

Wow I love this minhag!

so really smart
Reply to  Air Purifier
April 4, 2023 10:34 pm

we make everyone brush their teeth and blow torch their mouths so there is no chometz to be found there!

Nothing Processed At All
April 4, 2023 4:31 pm

We make everything at home, from the coffee to the matzah

Sugar
April 4, 2023 4:35 pm

We used to boil our sugar, now we realized it’s better not to “boil” another Jew’s blood erev pesach by stressing everyone out and getting them angry than to boil the sugar.

Happy to see you, Charlie!
Reply to  Sugar
April 5, 2023 4:05 am

My rabbi told me already 30 years ago that I don’t have to boil the sugar. He said, “It’s something that was done in Europe out of necessity, and you don’t need to do it.” Wow, was I grateful!!

What?
Reply to  Sugar
April 5, 2023 7:46 am

You can do it the day before, it doesn’t take that long

Also used to
Reply to  Sugar
April 5, 2023 3:36 pm

We also used to boil sugar. Now we realized that instead of creating more stress by boiling sugar, we can last 8 days without sugar. You might want to try that instead especially if you are slightly more lenient with kids, so the only people missing out on sugar are the adults.

Not specifically our family..
April 4, 2023 4:46 pm

We don’t use oil, only shmaltz and the food is the best!

chabad
Reply to  Not specifically our family..
April 4, 2023 6:45 pm

The rebbe wrote in a ksav yad koidesh that in chabad we dont use oil only chiken fat
No hate but if you wanna call yourself chabad you cant use oil

absolutely not
Reply to  chabad
April 4, 2023 9:00 pm

I’m sorry, that is entirely incorrect.

Bubbe masos
Reply to  chabad
April 4, 2023 9:49 pm

source please??????
most if the bigest chasidim used oil

Who?
Reply to  Bubbe masos
April 5, 2023 7:47 am

Who are the biggest chassidim?

Ver interesting
Reply to  chabad
April 4, 2023 10:35 pm

Wow please give a source i never saw that.

מן המצר
Reply to  chabad
April 5, 2023 1:58 pm

While it may be true that to identify as Chabad you must follow the traditions of Chabad, your comment is divisive in this context and flies in the face of Ahavat Yisroel.

Not true
Reply to  chabad
April 9, 2023 12:26 am

The Rebbe clearly writes that Anash used processed oil.

Best food
Reply to  Not specifically our family..
April 4, 2023 6:51 pm

Pesach food is my favorite and we don’t use oil or anything else processed. The food is so raw and just good. All the work is worth it in the end.
Every year we come up with new recipes and it’s always exciting.

i do it all year long
Reply to  Best food
April 4, 2023 10:37 pm

i do it all year long

Yup
Reply to  Best food
April 5, 2023 7:48 am

Raw food rules

Schmaltz for the win!
Reply to  Not specifically our family..
April 5, 2023 4:56 am

Srsly, I don’t get the hate on it

Definitely
Reply to  Not specifically our family..
April 5, 2023 7:47 am

I use schmaltz year round it tastes so good!

Schmaltz!
Reply to  Not specifically our family..
April 5, 2023 2:45 pm

Schamltz is the way 2 go! No products!

YOU DONT NEED TO DO EVERY CHUMRA!
April 4, 2023 5:04 pm

So you have some CHUMRAS which you keep in your house like only using shmaltz, or boiling suger, or not using ANY Factory processed foods (although you use wine which came from a factory but whatever) Or perhaps you dust off the sealing because you never know where you might find chametz! Perhaps these chumras where past down from your parents, or maybe you just heard from a guy who heard from a guy about some chumras, GOOD FOR YOU, enjoy your chumras but don’t make everyone else in your family crazy about them! It’s not worth your sholom bayis… Read more »

Bruh
Reply to  YOU DONT NEED TO DO EVERY CHUMRA!
April 4, 2023 5:21 pm

Take a Xanax my good person.

free???
Reply to  YOU DONT NEED TO DO EVERY CHUMRA!
April 4, 2023 6:47 pm

You got it wrong bro free does not mean free from toireh ch”v
The meaning of pesach is the chumrois thats what kept us alive in mitsraim

Our family is super - machmir in
April 4, 2023 5:47 pm

in the mitzvos of Ahavas Yisroel and Shalom Bayis.

We also make it a point to be extra-machmir in the biblical prohibition against speaking Loshon Hora.

Machmir in hoyzin.

Aderabah Shilshul.

Chag Same’ach to all.

Not to blow dry lettuce
April 4, 2023 5:56 pm

Just use paper towels

Iodine?
Reply to  Not to blow dry lettuce
April 5, 2023 7:49 am

Obviously tested for starch

Famous saying:
April 4, 2023 5:59 pm

Dust isn’t chometz, and the kids aren’t the karban Pesach

Chmra
April 4, 2023 6:03 pm

I avoid reading news sites before pesach

Obviously
Reply to  Chmra
April 5, 2023 7:49 am

We can see

Processed foods
April 4, 2023 6:06 pm

We don’t use any sort of food processor because we try not to eat any processed foods

comment of the year
Reply to  Processed foods
April 4, 2023 10:01 pm

you deserve a Nobel Prize for this comment

Shmaltzyy
April 4, 2023 6:10 pm

So we don’t use shmaltz but that’s Abt it
.. we use oil and wine 😉
Other than that we make everything ourself

minhogim ?
April 4, 2023 6:36 pm

If your family minhag causes you to feel superior than the next guy, or gives you bragging rights, you may as well not do it at all. Remember matzah is bitul and chametz is gaavah.

Chosid
April 4, 2023 7:24 pm

The closest food to chometz is matza (it is made from flour and water). Therefore we eat the minimum requirements of matza at the seder and at lechem mishneh – but no more!

Pay to Play
April 4, 2023 7:43 pm

We don’t use our car on pessach. The gasoline has 15% ethanol which is GRAIN ALCOHOL! One is prohibited from getting benefit/pleaaure from chometz. Therefore we don’t drive our car the entire 8 days of pessach (and from mid-day on erev pessach). I am shocked that others are lenient in this!!!

Nifsal meachilas kelev
Reply to  Pay to Play
April 4, 2023 9:02 pm

Research what that means
Get educated

Rabbi
Reply to  Nifsal meachilas kelev
April 5, 2023 7:53 am

נפל מאכילת כלב does not apply if it csn be reconstitued to edible food by seperation and refinement. People make this common mistake.

Mrs
Reply to  Pay to Play
April 4, 2023 11:14 pm

Is this a thing??

Ethanol
Reply to  Pay to Play
April 5, 2023 1:48 am

In the U.S. is mostly made of corn which is Kitnoyos

Yael
Reply to  Ethanol
April 8, 2023 10:35 pm

Can you rely that “most” ethanol alcohol comes from corn?! If yes, can you rely on that for Deodorant that has ethanol alcohol, or are we worried the grain alcohol MIGHT be from wheat? If you prohibit it for Deodorant sprays, then why is car gasoline permitted????

Nifsal meachilas kelev
Reply to  Pay to Play
April 5, 2023 12:50 pm

If a dog won’t eat it then it’s not assur!
but don’t drive your ar cuz, “why not”.

Car
Reply to  Pay to Play
April 9, 2023 10:58 am

Can I borrow your car please?

Menachem
April 4, 2023 7:59 pm

The most important Chumra you can have…. As the saying goes “A Kosherin Purim Un A Freilichin Pesach” There is so much work. Backbreaking preparations. On going things to do. The Chumra : be polite thoughtful and kind. Remember dust is not Chometz and your wife is not a Shmateh. Help out as much as you can. Take the kids out of the way Make your wife feel like a Queen. Your kids should feel important. Lastly. Don’t forget to your wife a precious gift before Hadlakas Neiros tomorrow. Buy a gift small or big for each child. Don’t overthink… Read more »

Hmm...
Reply to  Menachem
April 5, 2023 7:51 am

I feel like this was written by an אשת חיל

Observer
April 4, 2023 8:30 pm

We sing manishtana in many languages: Russians, French, Hebrew, Yiddish, Spanish or what other languages guest speak.

Zivale's
April 4, 2023 9:28 pm

We have a minhag that all the girls in the family go to get their fingers and toes cleaned and polished for pasach

Joke of the day:
April 4, 2023 9:35 pm

It might take time to process-haha process, but it’s very funny

Q) what’s faster new york or by train?
A) pizza because ice cream doesn’t have bones.

Glass shattering
April 4, 2023 9:44 pm

We break a glass the 1st day of chol hamoed zecher lechorban.

Our minhag
April 4, 2023 10:16 pm

Our minhag is to enjoy all the new kosher for pesach products that come out each year. Every year we have new items we try and it always enhances our pesach

Crown Heightser
April 4, 2023 10:54 pm

We don’t use sink water: (a) it’s a processed product with additives; (b) the water pipes connect to places that have chometz; (c) the reserve of city water could have chometz dropped into it and sitting longer than 24 hrs כבוש כמבושל. Therefore, for drinking, cooking and dish washing we only use water saved from before pessach (we fill our bathtubs).

Oy vey
Reply to  Crown Heightser
April 5, 2023 7:55 am

No water! I gotta buy bottled water. Oh no – is that called proccessed foods? What do others do?

Yael
Reply to  Crown Heightser
April 8, 2023 10:36 pm

This is a common custom by certain polish and hungarian chassidic communities.

magazines
April 4, 2023 10:56 pm

my family has a chumra to rip out all the adds from the magazines before pesach so we can read one article without turning a thousand pages

No water bottles or tap water
April 4, 2023 11:13 pm

We boil our tap water and then put it in the fridge….

Typical Family
April 5, 2023 2:18 am

Our Family Minhag (going back many generations) is that we sit for at least 2-3 hours on every day of Chol Hamoed discussing what to do, and then just go bowling.

Matzah
April 5, 2023 2:49 am

We use a streits chocolate cover matzah for the afikomen , it may seem silly but when my great great grandfather was a solider In the war it was the only matzah the army was able to provide to his battalion and since then as a remembrance for his courage in the face of adversity we use a chocolate covered matzah

Chezkie
April 5, 2023 5:39 pm

Chicken eat grain which is chometz. Before yom tov we kasher the chickens in boiling water.

Yael
April 5, 2023 6:49 pm

Avacado spread on a matza is NOT gebrokts. We eat it all pessach long.

Yael
Reply to  Yael
April 8, 2023 10:37 pm

Chabad rabbis told me it’s ok to do so!!! Ask your local chabad rabbi!!!

Yes
Reply to  Yael
April 16, 2023 6:15 pm

We make sure to be careful that everything that touches the avocados are completely dry. We also do this with other dips on Pesach.

I was looking forward to reading this
April 8, 2023 9:01 pm

But unfortunately it seems as though some people have a hard time discussing differences in a mature and curious fashion…

Gezh
April 8, 2023 11:51 pm

We check our salt to make sure there are no bits and pieces of anything but salt. You’d be surprised what you find No hot water to wash dishes, nor dish soap (lemon and salt do the job (or not)) Anything that falls on the floor can’t be used that year Brush your teeth with lemon juice No veggies that have visible seeds – cucumbers, tomatoes, etc. No pineapple, avocado or mango because they didn’t have that in Russia G fish made at home with only carp No sugar, oil, or milchigs in any form – you’re fleishig from 8… Read more »

Chazeres
April 9, 2023 9:35 am

We use the leftover, but only the leftover, lettuce from the sedarim. Behashgacha pratis some years we have quite a lot of lettuce that we checked before pesach leftover 😉

X