If you ain't money, then you ain't makin' sense!
I have a strange Passover memory of my Father walking around with a lighter checking for bread in the fireplace, while a friend of his from Temple acted as "witness". Sephardic Jews are very, very superstitious. These were the Orthodox years of my childhood (though I say that half kiddingly). My mom would sneak me salami sandwiches with mayo in my lunches, and my dad would take me to donut time for the lard fried apple fritters after Saturday services. We didn't keep Kosher, but the idea of mixing meat and dairy did seem pretty repulsive to me at the time anyway. Unless Italian salami was involved mmmm. I still have some strange hold overs about what I'll eat. Hot dogs, yes. Ground sausage, hell no. Ham, not a chance. Finely sliced porsciutto...yes please. Anyway, I'm still not sure why there would have been bread crumbs in the fireplace, but I think there's a part of the ceremony that states to check the fireplace specifically! All our bread items were stuck in the freezer, or locked away in one contraband cabinet for the week. He only did this routine once, walking around with a Bic lighter, trying not to burn himself while reading some prayers of some sort. I'm not sure he was ever around on subsequent Passovers anyway. My Grandpa would always lead the Seders (think the Last Supper but with macaroons) and he'd just mumble half of it pretending he could read the prayers. Passover is probably the quirkiest of holidays. Half the ceremony is questioning why the fuck we even do it. One year I stayed in NY and had Passover with some family that took pictures posing with the Parsley (it's symbolic to eat some Parsley dipped in salt water) and instead of saying "next year in Jerusalem" they switched it to "next year in Florida". I think the most creative thing my family ever did was have our dogs look for the "Afi komen" which is a piece of Matzah you're supposed to pretend is desert. You hide it in the house so the little kids at the Seder can find it, and bargain to get a reward for it. We gave our puppies treats and let them eat some Matzah instead. Ever watch a Cocker Spaniel chomp on a sheet of Matzah ? Fun for days.