Posted by on 29. March 2018 0 Comments

The Big Clean-Up

Passover in Jerusalem

Color photograph of a realistically modeled miniature steamroller with roller, excavator shovel, and driver's cab. A small metal tube for holding a feather and a candle holder have been attached to the upper side of the stylized engine compartment.

This miniature steamroller by the artist Avi Biran is put to work in the ritual search for leavened grain. If chametz is found in the house, it can literally make it flat as a pancake, Jerusalem 2008; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Jens Ziehe. You can find this and other objects related in our German-language collection database.

The time before Passover always seems a bit chaotic to me. Jerusalem looks a little like a German city just before Christmas. Everyone has off work and is busy preparing for the holiday: there is a lot to buy for the seder evening, and many people buy new clothing to look sharp for the family dinner. In homes and buildings across the city, rags, brooms, and vacuums flail frantically. This spring cleaning has a religious motivation: → continue reading

Posted in holiday, Welcome to Jerusalem
Tagged by ,


Top