The Holiness of Preparing for Passover - Serving Our Future Selves©Rabbi David Baum
.jpg)
When I was in rabbinical school, we once went around and shared holy moments we experience on holy days, mainly Shabbat. One of my classmates did not describe the day itself, but the afternoon leading up to it. He said, “I always shave on Friday afternoons (Erev Shabbat), but during the week, I only shave in the morning. I do it because when Shabbat comes, I’m different than I was before: I feel ready.” Until that moment, I had never thought that shaving could be a holy act. Although not exactly a holy act, it leads us to set the stage for holiness to occur.
I am sure that many of you who stayed in town might still be making last-minute trips to the kosher grocery stores for your last-minute Pesach items. Maybe you are reading this as you are checking out of some kosher food market on your smartphone, or maybe you are taking a break from sweating in your hot kitchen, or doing last-minute cleaning. The chances are, you are all probably thinking, I wish I had more time! Thankfully, you are supposed to feel this way. It is not easy to clean, kasher, and cook, and yet we do it every year in the same way. We always say, next year, we will leave enough time, but as Passover approaches, you always feel the same way: rushed. In our seders, we will be reciting the famous words, “B'chol dor vador, chayav adam lir'ot et atzmo keilu hu yatza mimitzraim.” “In every generation, each person is obligated to look at themselves as if they themselves had left Egypt.” Just as the Israelites rushed to leave Egypt, so too must you rush to bring on this holiday.
As I was reflecting on Passover, I realized that it is all about time. The first mitzvah we received as a people was to observe Rosh Hodesh and thereby create a Jewish calendar. We received this mitzvah as slaves in Egypt, and it was our first great step into freedom. Finally, we, in partnership with God, would be in control of our time, not our cruel taskmasters. Passover is dominated by time, and it all begins with Matzah. Matzah, unleavened bread, must be made in less than 18 minutes. It gives us a message: we have to rush to freedom. But what do we do when we get there? I believe that our seders are when we bask in our freedom. We recline like free men, we have others pour our wine glasses for us, and, more than anything, we take our time. On Shabbat, we have one glass of wine, but on Passover, we have four. These required glasses of wine give us time to reflect, talk, delve into our tradition, communicate with family or friends, and turn any strangers that you invited to your Seders into brothers and sisters. In order to do that, you need time.
My blessings to you this Passover, after a difficult two years of restriction (and constriction) due to the pandemic, are that you take the time during the holiday to reflect on the gifts you have in life, and to realize that there is so much more that needs to be done to bring about the ultimate redemption, to bring about ultimate freedom. May you rush to get to the freedom of your seder, but when you get there, may you take your time, and bask in the glory of God and Israel.
When we cook our food that we will eat the next day, when we clean our kitchens days before the holiday begins, we are allowing our future selves to experience true freedom. In this way our past selves are serving our future selves, just as our ancestors sacrificed for us. That is the holiness of preparing and the holiness of these days leading up to Pesach.
Rabbi David Baum
Comments