Ten days of experiences passed through me - Passover experiences. Not the kind of cleaning and shopping you've heard about on every Twitter, Facebook wall, or Instagram.
Women's magazines are full of helpful advice and effective recipes, and solutions are available.
But my experiences are a little different. I plowed the land these days. The holiday of Passover became a highly communicative holiday for me. Meetings with dozens of people when the "reason" was always expressed in the following sentence: "I brought you matzot for the Seder night.".
There are preserved matzahs that must be followed with extreme caution. Yes. Three matzahs corresponding to a priest, a Levite, and a Jew, and some of them you will eat on the night of the consecration of the holiday – the night of the Seder.
Matzah is humility. Chametz is pride. So, as time allowed, I sat and stood and talked and explained to my interlocutors the physical, spiritual and mental meanings of the founding holiday in which we became a people. And suddenly I saw how it is possible to give a gift that is all "flour and water" and through it reach the depths of the soul.
A friend whose husband purchased a new clinic for aesthetic treatments in north Tel Aviv asked me to bring a rabbi to place a mezuzah at the new place of employment at the next opportunity.
Another, a reporter at Maariv, had already asked me to bring her a Passover Haggadah, and there was also a lieutenant colonel who rushed to text me after I left her and asked when it was time to stop eating chametz and where she could sell the chametz.
When I left my regular class on Thursday morning, I still felt as if I hadn't exhausted the holiday, as if I had nothing to climb on, as if I was still preoccupied with material things. The trips around the country and the many meetings had drained my strength and didn't leave me enough time to study the holiday in depth.
With God's help
Passover - Passover. We are commanded to tell the story of the Exodus from Egypt, and the more we read, the better. This is the holiday that we have worked so hard to prepare for. This is the holiday that allows us to talk and talk and talk some more, and it is even better.
Spring Festival - It is also the holiday of spring, of the changing of the seasons, of the bright and clear and understandable, the good and happy.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread - Matzah enables the beginning of a connection with God. A baby does not know how to say "Abba" until he tastes grain. Eating matzah, also called the food of faith, gives us the freedom to turn directly to God and say "Abba.".
The leaven is pride, it swells. It expresses the self. The matzah is the bread of poverty. Only the abolition of the self and pride can bring us to true freedom.
The Feast of Liberation – "This month shall be unto you the beginning of months, the first of the months of the year." Nissan in general and Passover in particular are similar to the time period in which they occur, to spring. Just as spring blooms and begins anew after the long months of winter, so the Jewish people are born and emerge from slavery into redemption.
The slave cannot say everything that comes to his mind. A free man can do so. As I mentioned above, this is a holiday in which the mouth is open. And it is not about mere idle talk and gossip, but about singing with all his heart – "All together they gave thanks and reigned, saying, The Lord reigns forever and ever.'.
Great freedom
And finally, let's ask ourselves a small question and answer it honestly. Are we truly free? Are we not enslaved to desire, lust, and illusions?.
Whether the answer is yes or no, I wish you all a kosher and happy Passover. May the feet of the herald stand on the Mount of Olives today, before the holiday is sanctified, and we will all be told that we have been granted eternal redemption.
The holiday of Passover is an excellent opportunity to embark on the "great freedom." A freedom in which we will finally be ourselves. Freed from the shackles of exile and the bondage of desire. Amen.
• Part of the column is based on the talks of the Lubavitcher Rebbe | The writer is the owner of "My Choice", an event host, lecturer, and radio broadcaster. | For comments: [email protected]
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