Pesach — a dip into an alternate universe far away from everything familiar: work daily activities and particularly food. Pesach is a season of celebration a time to truly feel our redemption from physical slavery to elevated spiritual realms.

If so why does it feel mostly like a whole lot of work?

A Woman’s Pesach

A woman’s Pesach is typically filled with physical labor. In the days and weeks before Pesach she is cleaning and sorting and shopping and cooking. Unless she has a full staff on hand on the holiday itself she is cooking and serving and cleaning and cooking and serving and cleaning and cooking and … for a full week without rest. Where is her “elevation?”

The only alternate universe she may be experiencing is the one found in her kitchen. Particularly if she is used to leaving her house on a daily basis the new reality of seemingly endless kitchen work can make her feel confined and trapped. Where is the joy in that?

How can a woman not feel like a slave on Pesach? While feeding her household entertaining her family and guests and looking after her children who are all home from school (for the month!) how can she immerse herself in the spiritual energies of this holy festival?

Cognitive Strategies

One thing that a woman can do to elevate her soul is to use her head. Hashem gave us our wondrous brains to help us achieve higher levels of spirituality. By learning and thinking we can take ourselves out of the mundane realm into the spiritual realm. Since women are busy making Pesach and working even on Yom Tov there may not be a whole lot of time for heavy reading. However even the lightest perusal of a Pesachdig Torah thought (in a magazine book or newspaper) can offer perspective and inspiration. In addition catching a five- or ten-minute audio class (available on tape online on the telephone) at any point before the holiday or during the intermediate days can enlighten the mind and lighten the burden.

Reminding herself intellectually about why she is doing all this changes the nature and feeling of her service. It helps to remember that we were freed from Egypt in order to live a life of spirituality. We were freed from the slavery of doing hard meaningless work for human beings in order to do hard meaningful work for Hashem. Knowing that every potato peeled and every dish washed creates a song in the celestial spheres can definitely help conquer negative feelings.

Non-Cognitive Strategies

Spirituality can enter a person through many channels. While conscious intellect is one venue unconscious knowing is another. In fact when people connect to Hashem through faith alone the connection is even stronger — faith being a higher level than intellect. But how does one connect to faith?

Our Sages advise us to use intellect as a path to faith — more study more learning more observing more reasoning. As mentioned above a woman in the midst of Pesach may not have much time for that particular road. However she will have plenty of time for another path to soulful connection — placing herself in a state of mindfulness.

Essentially the mindful state is a condition of being totally present in the present moment. It is a holiday from thinking analyzing worrying planning fretting regretting judging oneself judging others obsessing and all other forms of stressful rumination. In fact it is permission not to think!

When peeling a potato the mindful person uses her senses of sight touch and smell to enjoy the feel of the potato in her hand the whoosh of the peel sliding off the coolness of the vegetable the glistening color of its flesh the familiar smell the miracle of the potato. When sitting at the table the mindful person sees — really sees — her family and friends the flickering candles the flowers the plates the cutlery — every blessing that Hashem has bestowed upon her. She absorbs it slowly fully like she’s never seen it before and may never see it again. She is totally one-hundred-percent there soaking in the gift the blessing the precious never-again moment of this very moment.

Mindful attention is not only calming and highly pleasurable; it is also a direct path to Hashem. When one enjoys her world mindfully Hashem’s obvious Hand in all aspects of it becomes immediately evident and her heart fills with gratitude and appreciation.

So this Pesach give yourself permission to concentrate on the soap suds as you rinse that stack of dishes. You may discover that those bubbles carry you high out of the kitchen right into the heavens above!