Pre-Pesach

​Dear friends,
 
Purim still is sort of here.
 
The days between Purim and Rosh Chodesh are days when the great light, joy, happiness, and honor can easily recede into the ordinary humdrum of life. Purim’s message is still here – it tells you that Hashem’s presence doesn’t have to be easily observed to be real, and in fact, when He covers His presence to let you stretch yourself into finding Him, choices come fast and furious.
 
If you are living alone, you have the issue of where to go for the Seder. If you are living alone, but you have a house that’s big enough to invite others, and the love of hosting that some of us are blessed with, you still may have the problem of who would come if you invited them, and who would make it easy to have the seder evolve into something meaningful and beautiful. If you have a family, you have the chance to relive the way our ancestors lived in Egypt, enslaved and exhausted. If you are planning to go away, you have the issue of how to retain Peach while you are on vacation and simultaneously keep the vacation a real vacation. Have I left you out? If so, no doubt you too need to let the light of Purim with its message hit you. It’s in the nature of these few weeks and in the air you breathe.
 
There is only one thing that works. Keep on feeling beloved. You have to make room for your Lover, and that means letting the big Self vacate the middle of your heart and make more room.
 
The Zohar says that the generation who suffered the almost unbelievable pain of what servitude was in Egypt were reincarnated from the people who had made the Tower of Bavel.
 
When you read the text about the Tower, what you find is that it’s hard to relate to what the builders actually had in mind when they began the project. It says that their intent was to build a tower in order to “Make war against G-d”. The very idea of this kind of a war makes no sense. If you believe in G-d, how can you even think that you could succeed in a war that you are fighting against Him? If you don’t believe in G-d, why are you spending so much time and so much emotional and physical energy in waging war against a mythic being?
 
WAR WITH G-D AND WAR WITH SELF
 
If you want to answer that, you can look at today’s world. You have enormous (possibly untapped) potential. So did they. Just think what it would be to live in their world, a world where you might even know the person who made the very first music, or the man who learned how to mine metal from the earth and make things, some of which were life-changers. Any belief in G-d means to at least some degree surrendering to His will. They felt that any inch that they give Him diminishes their creativity and importance, their Self.
 
OLD PROBLEM NEW NON-SOLUTION
 
There have been some extreme responses (that you may be aware of) in Israel to the motion that the authority of the Supreme Court should be modified. The present system is one in which any law that the Knesset passes can be vetoed by the Supreme Court. Since the Supreme Court is progressive, that means that virtually any law that is pro-religion or that affirms Israel as a Jewish state is knocked off the agenda. The judges are not evil. They are acutely aware of their own desire for what they genuinely believe in, which is libertarian, free, and compassionate. The idea of letting Hashem determine the meaning of those words is far beyond either their education or their astounding lack of humility. G-d is the enemy because their ego leaves no room for Him. The reason that this can happen to good people, who care and mean well is that once a good trait is captured by the Other side, the Other side has far more power than it would have if it was just desire or foolishness. Hashem didn’t give up on the generation of the builders of the Tower. He brought them back to this world and gave them lives in which there was no room for self-worship. A slave can’t fall into that trap. They left Egypt not only humble but able to feel Hashem’s love and return it. This will happen when Hashem desires that it is time for Moshiach to reveal himself. The good side of their conscience will fight for good, break through the heavy wall of ego and arrogance, and hear the words of Shir HaShirim. This is the best time of year to learn a bit of Shir HaShirim, the love poem between Hashem and us, one that speaks of surrender, intimacy, and undying commitment.
 
Pesach is the time for renewal. You need to be humble when you go Seder hunting or have to risk rejection when you invite guests or challenge yourself to do more than your comfort level, or (in some ways harder) stay with Hashem in the midst of your stay at the Golden Mountain.
 
You aren’t alone, and this isn’t outside of the Big Plan.
 
You are with One who wants you to have enough room to feel His presence at the Seder, His love for your unseen potentials, and His willingness to love you as you are today.
 
Am I being judgmental? I hope not. I lived all of the scenarios that I wrote about (except the luxury hotel). At the time did I feel what I feel today? No, but I know that these were part of a puzzle that the One who is called “Adon Kol HaNeshamot” the Master of all souls has created.
 
So… I will end the letter and go back to the Big Pile and sift through it. Pesach is coming!!!!!!!
 
Love,
Tziporah