Pesach Prep

Pesach, or Passover, is a major Jewish holiday. The beginning of the Jewish calendar was originally on Pesach. When this holiday comes around, people empty their houses of all the bread and exchange it with Matza, unleavened bread. The Matza represents how little time the Jews had to leave Egypt. They had so little time that they couldn't even afford to let their bread rise before they baked it. 
Growing up in America, many of the Jews I know are very liberal. Many of them don't even take all the bread out and just buy Matza. In Israel however, I was amazed to see how big of a deal Pesach is. I know it is a high holiday, but I had never experienced a spring cleaning quite like this one. Before Pesach comes, not only do people burn their bread and replace it with Matza, but they also have to clean every single dish that had ever touched bread. Some families have completely separate dishes and silverware just for Pesach along with the milk and meat ones they have for any other day of the year. Each house is intensely cleaned and not a spec of dirt is left anywhere. I had never experienced anything like this before in my life. In my house, we clean and get rid of all the bread, but it is not even close to being at the same level as people in Israel because it is only my family that does it. In America it is not a community type thing so nobody really cares. It was a very different experience for me that I will never forget.