Dear TBZ community:
This shabbat is Shabbat HaGadol, the Great Shabbat, the shabbat before Pesach. There are many different traditions associated with this Great Shabbat, and behind all of them is the need to prepare for Pesach.
Traditionally a great drasha, a great teaching, is given to remind people how to prepare their homes for Pesach – get rid of the chametz, clean up their kitchens – so they can have a Pesach Kasher v’Sameach, a kosher and happy Passover. One of the sources of this preparation comes from the book of Shemot when, prior to leaving Egypt, the people are commanded to prepare for the Exodus. The Torah tells us in Exodus Chapter 12, verse 3, what is known as the first Pesach:
דַּבְּר֗וּ אֶֽל־כׇּל־עֲדַ֤ת יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר בֶּעָשֹׂ֖ר לַחֹ֣דֶשׁ הַזֶּ֑ה וְיִקְח֣וּ לָהֶ֗ם אִ֛ישׁ שֶׂ֥ה לְבֵית־אָבֹ֖ת שֶׂ֥ה לַבָּֽיִת
Speak to the community leadership of Israel and say that on the tenth of this month each of them shall take a lamb to a family, a lamb to a household
Before Pesach begins, the people of Israel are commanded to take a lamb to prepare. In order to arrive at Pesach, preparation is required! You don’t just show up and all is ready, you prepare.
So, how do we prepare for Pesach? How are you preparing for Pesach this year?
Some will spend time cleaning their homes, some shopping for ingredients, some dusting off their Haggadahs, some preparing for a journey to family and friends.
Last Friday at our monthly shabbat Nariya, Erica Jaffe-Redner, gave the most beautiful and inspiring Kavanah (intention) for this Pesach. She taught us that the preparation we really need is the one that invites us to prepare for joy.
Quoting her teacher, Rabbi Andrew Oberstein she shared:
We’re told in the Song of the Sea parsha that Miriam “took a timbrel in her hand”, and that “all the women went out after her, dancing with timbrels”, rejoicing in their safe passage. They had timbrels?! These people were forced to flee Egypt in the night with no advanced notice. They didn’t even have time to let their bread rise. And yet, in the chaos of that rushed exit, amidst whatever fear they were experiencing, they had the clarity of mind and the conviction and the wisdom to pack timbrels. Remarkable. The lesson, my teacher concluded: “Prepare for joy in advance.”
Erica continued her Kavanah telling us how she decided to prepare for joy in advance, even when it wasn’t clear what was on the other side of a challenging time in her life. Her preparation did not include a timbrel but a portable chair that speaks three languages! (yes, I know now you want to read her Kavanah, I have copied the full text below).
What spoke to me from Erica’s teaching was her courage to prepare for joy when it was not clear that joy would actually arrive. This intention is so relevant for many of us at this time: how do we fully celebrate the possibility of redemption when it is just too hard to see redemption around us? Whether we face personal challenges, or the people that we love are in pain and are in need of healing? How do we prepare for joy when we are witness to, and impacted directly by injustice, terrorism, pandemic and war?
Pesach is our invitation to believe that redemption is at hand, that it is happening, that it is possible.
My spouse Ebn Leader teaches us in this article that the main focus of Pesach is remembering redemption and not necessarily oppression. Ebn proposes that “the two mitzvoth, remembering the slavery and remembering the redemption, while deeply connected are also distinct from each other and can at times work towards opposing ends.” Ebn argues that the “over-emphasis of the memory of slavery on Pesach actually undermines the goal of the holiday which is to celebrate freedom, and by doing so undermines the long-term goal of remembering slavery, which is to work against oppression.”
Shabbat is our invitation to experience the world as if it were perfect and good and beautiful. When Shabbat ends, we have tasted the goodness and we know what it feels like to be at peace. Pesach too provides us an opportunity, an opportunity to experience redemption. After imagining, and tasting the possibility of redemption, after knowing what it feels like, we know what we are looking for and what we are looking to create. Afterall, if we don’t know what redemption feels like, if we can’t even imagine what redemption looks like, how can we work towards it?
So, back to the beautiful Kavanah of Erica. Preparing for joy ahead of time calls on that same power of our creative imagination. We can imagine that joy and redemption is at hand, because if we don’t fully and truly believe in it, how can we work towards finding it, creating it, in our lives and bringing redemption to the world?
This year, in between cleaning, cooking and your other Pesach preparations, bring your focus beyond collecting materials, articles and stories of oppression and look for the stories of redemption. Consider how you will prepare with intention for joy. Is it a tambourine? Is it a portable chair that speaks three languages? Is it letting go of the expectations of others? Is it bringing your full self?
I invite you in this Shabbat HaGadol, to reflect on the ways you can prepare for Pesach so this holiday can be a celebration of redemption for you and those around you.
May this Shabbat bring renewal and blessings to all of you and your loved ones.
May we find strength, courage, and patience, and open our hearts with generosity.
May all those who are ill find healing.
May we have a joyful and restful Shabbat!
Shabbat Shalom,
