Get Ready for the Journey
Rivki D. Rosenwald Esq., LMFT, CLC, SDS
Are you with me when I say we’re in countdown mode?!
Yup, it’s just around the corner.
And we should know! Because we have to search around every corner.
It is that time of the year when we start to find all those missing items. Including, that all important tiny piece of blanky we were tortured by cause we had it last, or that phone number we lost of the great guy recommended for your niece, and of course the other shoe that you were going nuts looking for.
And the fun is just beginning…. Because, first, we have to dispose of all the nosh we just piled up from Purim. And by Hook or by Crook, which actually means by Eat or by Cheat, we will! Either way, it’s winding up on our waistline.
And that particular expansive experience is also only just beginning. Because there is only one formula more successful than overeating to expand our waistlines, and that is-overeating matzah!
We’ve got 4 weeks ahead of us of figuring it all out and then suddenly it’s right under our noses.
We’ve got to turn over the whole house. Not just cleaning everything but also changing over everything in the kitchen from all year-round ‘stuff’ (and All of this so we can ‘stuff’ ourselves with -ta da-matzah).
Yep, matzah is the continuing theme here.
We have to order it, point to it, consume it, continuously digest it, and somehow dispose of it.
We are ‘crunching’ away. And I don’t mean the way accountants do with numbers. Especially, cause this year it’s just after the tax rush. I mean, literally chewing loudly for eight days straight. There is no way to avoid it.
It seems that is our way to spread the miracle. Gd turned our matzah, which was initially made quickly due to slavery, to matzah made quickly so we could run to freedom. And we are crunching out the news to everyone ever since.
By the way, you know that warning – “don’t try this at home”. Well – This is actually one of those things best done at home- Crunching it. Certainly, better than doing it at a concert or in a crowded mall.
This coming holiday is a doozy. The cooking, the cleaning, the shopping, the eating and eating and eating. It’s all endless. And yet. We are blessed to have it. This holiday celebrates that Gd took a personal interest in our lives. Gd didn’t just create the world and then disappear, Gd shared the experience and saved us. Can’t gd share the calories and save us!
Gd came with a fire in front of us to guide us, but I feel it somehow guided us right to the flaming barbecues instead. A highlight of every Passover program.
Maybe Gd should have placed a cloud in front of us, to replace the one of above us, to fog our path to the pantry too.
Yes, eating is a big part of this holiday. But it’s 8 days. We wouldn’t want Yom Kippur rules to apply, would we?!
And anyway, food is so experiential. We eat maror and experience the bitterness of hard work. We drink wine and experience the joy of being rescued. We use salt water and taste the tears of suffering. We eat charoset and are reminded of the wall we built in Egypt and simultaneously the walls of the temple we now want rebuilt.
How lucky are we? We literally take a journey through history, and we never even need to leave the table. If you’re willing to sit, point, and chew, you’ve basically mastered the Seder experience.
We are telling of how Gd was there to take us to freedom just as our forefathers had been promised.
We are acknowledging that our ancestors wanted more variety than manna in the desert and we are getting it in spades.
So, what’s ahead in the next few weeks? Clean, inspect, rearrange, reorganize and so on….
And get ready to chew and crunch and dinner, and lunch, and eat a bunch….
But as you begin your preparation remember there’s meaning to it all.
And think of it this way: No one’s making you fly back to Egypt, to rebuild a useless tower, or commit to back breaking labor (though some would argue that) or be ruled by a heartless task master.
We are just being asked to search our homes and in reality, to “Internalize” the process. To think about our own deeds and behavior and opportunities to live better.
And then in a few weeks to “Internalize” once again the experience of being saved and re-embraced by our maker. And food seems to be the best way to guarantee we go – “internal”!!!!
So, let’s embrace the countdown together.
-The ‘exodus’ has already begun- the Chamaitz is ‘leaving’ the store shelves.
-Our ‘salvation’ is beginning to arrive-the O-U-P is filling the empty spots.
-And we are ‘passing over’ anything unmarked.
We are off and running…… so grab your Matzahs and get ready for the journey ahead!!
Rivki Rosenwald is a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist working with both couples and individuals.
She is a Certified Relationship Counselor. She is a Co-Founder & Creator of an effective Parent Management of Adolescent Years Program. She can be contacted at 917-705-2004 or rivkirosenwald@gmail.com
