Clean Your iPhone - For Passover?!

As the holiday of Pesach (aka Passover) speedily approaches, Jews all over planet earth a busying themselves scouring every inch that they own for remnants of Chametz. Chametz is the Biblical term for 'leaven' - any of the five grains (wheat, barley, oats, rye, & spelt) that has come in contact with water, and left to rise for 18 mins. In practical terms, that means all bread, cookies, crackers, pasta, etc. just to name a few. The Torah prohibits the eating or even possession of any amount of Chametz throughout the entire duration of the Pesach holiday. That's why Pesach & cleaning usually go hand in hand. Cleaning one's home and property is essential in proper adherence to Torah Law.

Even us over here at RustyBrick are no different. As we speak, we are awaiting approval for the new No-Chametz app. The app is designed to help one search and destroy all of that crumby Chametz. And as we do every year, we too will banish all leaven from our midst.

However, that got me thinking. How does one clean their iPhone, iPod, or iPad for Pesach. Well, according to the experts out in Cupertino, CA - this is the official way to clean an iPhone:

How to clean iPhone March 13, 2009 Summary Unplug all cables and turn off iPhone (press and hold the Sleep/Wake button and slide the onscreen red slider). Then use the included cleaning cloth or a soft, slightly damp, lint-free cloth. Avoid getting moisture in openings.

Don't use window cleaners, household cleaners, aerosol sprays, solvents, alcohol, ammonia, or abrasives to clean iPhone.

Or maybe, a better option would be to download the latest screen cleaner app, and have some cyber-puppies lick any leaven right off your iDevice.

But after looking at my own iPhone 3GS, I noticed some suspicious particles trapped under my peeling screen protector. Chametz? Or perhaps some good old fashioned pocket lint - who knows?!

No Apple 'included cleaning cloth' nor virtual poodle tongue could conceivably purge these mysterious specks. So I took to the books and this is what I found in the 2009 edition of the Rabbi Avrohom Blumenkrantz (zt"l) Laws of Pesach Digest:

Make sure to clean the telephone. The hand piece should be carefully cleaned and the mouthpiece that one speaks into, if it can be easily opened, should be opened and cleaned. The preferred thing to do is to have (if possible) a different telephone for Pesach.

So it seems my only option, short of a full iPhone teardown, is to get myself an brand-spankin' new iPhone for Passover! Hey, if Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with 2 iPads - I don't think i'm asking for too much.

To bad the rumored iPhone 5 isn't out yet - it would definitely be 1st on my Afikomen list.

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