Yesterday, I went shopping for Pesach.

Usually, I’m not so organised, at all. But yesterday, I woke up with the idea that I could clean one room for chametz, already, and then buy most of the Pesach stuff and shove it there, so that’s one big chore off my list.

So that’s what we did.

It cost me 3,400 shekels….

I was quite shocked, I have to say.

Because I like to do things properly, but usually, Pesach shopping is more like 2-2,500 shekels.

Yes, I bought a ton of meat, for the sephardi son-in-law, and that for sure added to the bill. And the new hotplate we need for Pesach, because we borrowed the last one for regular use when our hotplate exploded when we plugged it in literally ten minutes before Shabbat a few weeks ago.

But even so – I don’t have my kids at home now, so all the extra bits of chocolate, shampoos, conditioners, bits and bobs I used to pick up for them – I didn’t, this year.

And this also doesn’t include the matzah, or expensive bottles of wine – I picked up 5 bottles of grape juice.

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So, I don’t know if it’s just me, but things seem to be really expensive this year.

There is a saying, that either you give kimcha de pischa, or you end up needing to have it given to you by others.

(Kimcha de pischa, or ‘flour for Passover’, refers to the charitable expenditure people give to help other Jews be able to make Pesach, and to buy the bits required.)

Honestly?

I was very grateful we could just about manage to afford the shopping bill.

But then, I started thinking about the people who are struggling to get by at the moment, and how hard all this can be for people who don’t have a lot of give, financially.

Like – almost everyone I know, at the moment…

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Point is, we are either on the giving end, when it comes to Pesach, or God forbid, we end up on the ‘receiving end’…

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I was talking to my contact at the Rav’s Kollel Chatzot, in the Old City.

They have 15 full-time avreichim, some with large families, and my contact is trying to raise 1,000 shekels for each of the avreichim to have some ‘kimcha de pischa’ this year.

And after my shopping trip yesterday, that is still clearly barely covering the most basics of basics, for Pesach.

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You can go HERE to donate, and you can give as much, or as little, as you want – it all goes to a good place, and counts as giving kimche de pische to people who really need it.

BUT – my contact at the Kollel Chatzot told me that they will also ‘dedicate’ a day, or a week, or a month of their prayers and tikkun chatzots and their learning for specific sums.

Like this:

180 nis donation = A day of learning / tikkun chatzot etc dedicated for you.

1200 nis donation = A week of learning / tikkun chatzot etc dedicated for you.

3,600 nis donation = A month of learning / tikkun chatzot etc dedicated for you.

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Here’s the new link where you can donate, which they updated now so you can easily put in names for dedications:

https://www.matara.pro/nedarimplus/Forms/3979.html

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And the last thing to remind you, is that these donations are now tax deductible, in Eretz Yisrael.

Olam hazeh, and olam habah, all together, in one nice package.

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Go here to donate:

https://www.matara.pro/nedarimplus/Forms/3979.html

And may God bless us all, that we should always be on the ‘giving’ end of the kimcha de pischa equation.