My daughter and I went to the supermarket last week in order to get the requisite Kosher for Pesach foods needed for my wife’s assorted recipes. Actually, like many Jews, we went to the supermarket more than once. However on one particular journey to the supermarket, as we were pushing our cart through the throng of Jews, a man carrying a food basket was walking against the flow of supermarket traffic looking decidedly out of place and lost. First, he had a cross hanging from his neck. Yet he was entering the melee of the Kosher for Passover section. He saw me and my daughter just as we left the “Kosher For Passover” section as he drew towards us and said, “Excuse me.” He said he noticed the Kippah on my head. My daughter knew exactly what was going through my mind. I wish had been wearing a baseball cap. I smiled and said to this man with the cross hanging from his neck, “there are many people wearing a kippa on their head and there are even a few wearing black Fedoras and or Borsellino hats.” He smiled and explained that he has already tried speaking to four men. It seems that no one has time for him. My daughter knew what I was thinking: Leave immediately. However, I also knew what my daughter was thinking: be patient and listen. So I smiled and explained it is a very busy time and then I asked him how I could help him. The man had written an article about the Kingdom of God, and the impending Salvation of the Jewish People. He thought it would be particularly poignant to read at this time of year and he needed some input from Jews. He asked me if I could take the time to read it. I looked at my daughter, my eyes pleading with her to give me her permission for me to politely remove ourselves from this very uncomfortable position. She nodded and I turned to the man and politely said that I would love to read the article but I was very busy preparing for the Passover Festival. The man said something stunning. He had written an article about God and mankind and it seems that the Jews don’t have time for God. He then remarked that he was saddened and surprised that these people had no time for God. Now I was growing very impatient and my daughter saw me draw my breath to speak. I leaned in and quietly told the man that while it may seem that these people are all in a hurry, and explain that they don’t have time to stop and speak with you, that doesn’t mean that they don’t have time for God. Every one of these people shopping for Passover, every one of these people preparing for Passover was making time for God. Then I suggested that maybe they weren’t making time for him and the version of God and God’s Kingdom and God’s Salvation, that he felt compelled to discuss with Jews whose focus was on Passover. I wished him a good day and good luck.
This Shabbat marks the first day of Pesach. Pesach is known as Zman Cheiruteinu – the Time of our Freedom. Shabbat is known as Yom Menucha and a Day of Rest. Because Pesach comes once a year and Shabbat occurs fifty-two time a year, on this particular Shabbat, Pesach tends to be our focus. We didn’t just partake of a Shabbat dinner; we participated in a Seder. We don’t read from the weekly Torah reading, we read a special Torah reading that focuses upon the narrative of the first Passover celebration in Egypt as B’nai Yisroel was about to become a free people and leave Egypt. U’Lekachetem Agudat Eizov Utvaltem BaDam Asher BaSaf V’HiGaTem El HaMaSHKoF V’El SHTei HaMZuZoT MiN HaDaM Asher BaSaF V’ATeM Lo TeiTZu ISh MiPeTaCH BeiTo Ad BoKeR - You Shall take a bundle of hyssop and dip it into the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with some of the blood that is in the basin and as for you, you shall not leave the entrance of the house until morning (Ex. 12:22). We had to choose a lamb, slaughter a lamb, cook a lamb, eat it and ask questions. In a sense, it seems like we had to hurry up and wait for redemption.
Fridays and the hours leading up to Shabbat have are hectic quality in their own right. Passover preparations are a completely different type of hectic sensibility. The Shabbat “hectic” begins slowly maybe in the middle of the week it culminates in the minutes before candle lighting. The hectic before Pesach begins slowly weeks in advance when the Kosher for Passover food arrives in the stores. It builds with invitations to Seders, menus, shopping lists, and schlepping boxes, converting a kitchen and then cooking. Even when the Festival begins, there is still a sense of hectic when the Seder begins. We need to complete the Seder by midnight. One type of hectic is necessary for being able to appreciate Shabbat as Yom Menucha, a day of rest. However, the other type of hectic is necessary for us to appreciate Pesach as Zman Cheiruteinu – time for our freedom. One type of hectic causes us a desire to catch our breath from the mundane activities of the week. One type of hectic causes us to appreciate the hard work required to be a free people engaged in a holy relationship. So when a man wanting to tell me about his version of God, redemption, and salvation; how do we explain that dealing with “the hectic” and “the chaos” in preparation is really Lichvod Shabbat, and Lichvod Chag HaPesach, for the honour and respect of Shabbat and Pesach and God? The fact was, all these people that he saw hurrying about had a very specific deadline in order to welcome the Sabbath Bride and be prepared for our Freedom. Sometimes the preparations for the sacred are tantamount to the sacred moment itself.
Peace and Chag Kasher V’Sameach,
Rav Yitz
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