This year, Pesach is different from every other year. But we can handle it
Too much work, not enough sleep. Overspending. Change in diet (and sometimes location). Chaotic household. Cooking-cleaning-cooking-cleaning. These used to be the normal challenges of Pesach. This year we need to add so many more.
“This year makes all the previous Pesachs look like a walk in the park. The kids are home all the time. They’re too young to be helpful. They’re constantly in need of my attention and supervision. I can’t think straight, let alone focus on what needs to be done for Pesach.”
“I’ve never made Pesach before. And both my husband and I are suddenly out of work. How are we supposed to afford everything?”
“I’m very fortunate to still be able to work from home. The problem is that everyone is here with me. Am I really supposed to do office work, clean and cook for Pesach, prepare for a Seder, create structure and supervise activities for the kids, and take care of myself?”
From Slavery to Freedom
There are many times in life when one is forced to handle incredible challenges. Take this woman, for instance. “In 2017, I was working full-time and doing a part-time master’s degree that year. I was halfway through it when my mom became suddenly ill. I’m the only daughter in town and so it fell on me to take care of her. First there was the hospital. I was there with her ‘til midnight for weeks on end. I’d run home, sleep a few hours, get up and cook and clean, drop into the office for an hour to get my work for the day, and then bring that with me to the hospital. This happened several times that year. In between, I was arranging all Mom’s care and taking her to her appointments and continuing to look after my family and work and study. I don’t know how I physically survived that experience. I guess I was a living example of ‘Hashem gives strength to the weary….’ ”
Sometimes we’re overwhelmed because we’re thrust into painful, frightening situations: physical and mental health crises, financial crises, traumatic experiences and, as we see, pandemics. We’re forced to deal with events we haven’t chosen, forced to draw on our last reserves of psychological and physical energy to negotiate the situation.
Of course, Hashem designs these crises for our benefit, as He does everything for our good. During these trials we get closer to Him (often out of sheer desperation and helplessness), and we discover and nurture strengths we never knew we possessed. The hardship and pain atone for our many wrongdoings, offering vital cleansing that will serve us well for eternity.
No one welcomes difficult struggles into their lives, but once they’ve arrived and we’ve survived them, we can appreciate their value. Even when we don’t see the goodness that the difficulties provide for us, we know that it’s there.
Sometimes we fail to appreciate our regular challenges. Wouldn’t we all be happy this moment to be experiencing the normal challenges of Pesach? What if our struggle could be the struggle of changing our schedules, cleaning our homes from top to bottom, traveling and spending time with relatives, finding sufficient money for feeding our families and making a Seder? Wouldn’t we jump at the opportunity to pay our spiritual debts and raise our souls higher in that way instead of in more painful and frightening ways?
Hashem knows that even an ordinary Pesach involves a lot of work. Despite the latest conveniences, making Pesach still requires significant time, money, and effort. At the end of it all, as we pat ourselves on our backs for having made it through another holiday season, Hashem also pats us on our backs, pleased that we’ve dedicated ourselves to Him with all our heart, body, and soul.
Making Pesach for ourselves and our loved ones under normal circumstances, in this sense, is an easy difficulty. The hardship is sweetened with the joy of the holiday and the celebration of the freedom to do our work for Hashem and not for a cruel tyrant. This year, however, the hardship is sweetened with the extra merit we will receive for making Pesach under difficult conditions and for maintaining our faith that in the future we will be able to make it the normally challenging way.
