The Eve of Shabbat, and Pre-Eve of Passover

Pesach (Passover) is the Festival of Freedom. It is commanded to us by G-d that we celebrate this every year, and it's specifically written that the holiday must take place in the spring. The term Passover has to do with the Angel of Death "passing over" the homes of the Jews in Egypt while G-d "smote" (love this word) the firstborn of the Egyptians. (If they'd have just let us go after any of the first NINE plagues, they could have saved themselves this problem, but no...)

Supposedly, we left so quickly that we didn't have time for the bread to rise, so we ran with what we had (and the pots we'd "borrowed" from the Egyptians...), which was flat bread. (Which I'm sure bore no actual resemblence to the cardboard we eat nowadays.)

Interestingly, the first Passover seder was held BEFORE we left Egypt, when we were actually still slaves. Hmm. But the festival itself is about us becoming free.

This year, Pesach will begin on Saturday evening... I still haven't quite figured it out, but basically it means that Shabbat is not over yet when Passover begins.

It means a whole different level of preparation when this happens, because instead of being able to wait until the very last night before the holiday for having the house cleaned, it has to be done two nights ahead of time.

The house can always be cleaned to a new level, so it's literally a process that begins whenever someone begins it, but it's a rare person who truly feels done and finished before the deadline. According to Jewish law, the rule is that a Jew may not own any leavened products, or products that are derived from grains that *could* become leavened, during the week of Pesach (plus an extra day for people who live outside Israel, but that's a whole 'nother story).

So on the surface, no big deal, right? You brush the crumbs out of the cabinet, wipe down the inside of the fridge and voila! You're done.

Uhm, not exactly.

To make sure that there is not even a trace of chametz (these leavenable products) in our homes, we go to any of many different levels of cleaning and checking, depending on where we hold religously, and how much time and energy we have.

Some people use it as an opportunity for "spring cleaning," as well. (I have good intentions every year of doing that, but it seems that I'm working on getting rid of the chametz and miss the walls and windows most years.)

At the halakhic (Jewish law) level, dust is not chametz. We can clear the major stuff and then make a legally-binding declaration that any chametz left over simply does not belong to us. But if we find some later, it's psychologically jarring, because we obviously missed a spot somewhere.

Of course, this is all dealing with our physical surroundings.

At the same time, however, we have a huge opportunity to get free emotionally, mentally and spiritually.

See, freedom isn't what we sometimes think of it as nowadays. "Freedom of speech." "Freedom of religion."

Freedom is also being free to actually connect with G-d on a higher level. And one of the ways to connect with G-d at a higher level is to become a better person -- more like the person He/She/It would want us to be.

So while we're doing our physical cleaning and looking in all the nooks and crannies in our homes and offices, we can also take that time to look in the nooks and crannies within ourselves. What's holding me back? What's keeping me from being the most righteous person I can be, from living up to my Potential (still hate that word) as a human being and a "servant" of G-d?

Pride's a big one for most of us -- it inflates us and sometimes prevents us from remembering that our accomplishments wouldn't be possible without help from the Big Guy. It's not that we can't take credit where credit is due -- absolutely, we can and should -- but not beyond where we truly deserve credit for it. In fact, chametz, leavening, is absolutely symbolic of that false pride. Chametz is puffed up, just like we can get sometimes.

There are other things that hold us back... phobias that are absolutely real to us... smaller fears that we let control bits and pieces of our lives... traits about ourselves that we don't like, yet don't fix... etc.

So leading up to Seder Night and Pesach, while cleaning the clutter and chametz out of our homes, it's this amazing and fantastic opportunity to break free and stop being slaves to the clutter and chametz in our minds and souls.

And just like with our homes and offices, the cleaning could go on forever... but the trick is to figure out the most important stuff and work on that first. If there's time for smaller stuff, great... if not now, there will be later.

I'm exhausted at this point physically... but mentally and spiritually, I am totally psyched for this opportunity to connect with G-d at a higher level, and break free from my self-imposed slavery.

But right this minute, I need to go shopping, so freedom's gonna have to wait a little while longer.