Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto’s talks are known throughout the Jewish world. They combine chassidic teachings and philosophy, along with tips for a better life. We have collected pearls from his teachings that are relevant to our daily lives. This week he comments on the upcoming holiday of Passover.
In previous generations, when Passover came, the whole atmosphere would change. We remember the special preparations for Passover in the house of our great-grandfather, Rabbi Meir Abuchatzeira. Even the food at “Baba Meir”'s house had a different taste. Matzoh had a different taste, everything had a different taste, and it's not that anything changed in how they prepared the food or their ingredients. Perhaps today we know how to make tastier foods, but their food had a spiritual element to it, a special spice of performing a service of God. A spice of simplicity and devotion, a spice of diligent and constant service of God that imbued everything they did before Passover.
Today we prepare for Passover with great ease than in the previous generations. They had to bake the matzahs in the previous summer; today we go to the store and buy the matzahs in an instant. In previous generations, they would prepare the wine for Passover by themselves. Today you go to the store and buy several cases of wine in 2 minutes. In previous generations, they would start cleaning and preparing the house for Passover as early as Purim and even before. Today, a few days before the holiday, they bring a cleaning company to clean the whole house.
It’s not just Passover. Let's think about how in previous generations they prepared the Hanukkah candles. They took pieces of wool and prepared the wicks from them. We still remember how my mother used to prepare the wicks for Hanukkah. But today, we go and buy a ready-made box with Hanukkah candles, everything prepared and obtainable in an instant.
The previous generations had a special spice due to the effort and time they invested to prepare for the holiday. Passover today is still the beloved Passover we knew, maybe even more elaborate, more beautiful, more comfortable and easier. But the Passover of previous generations was a Passover that had been spiced with toil and effort. People would put their soul into the holiday and that is the special spice that we do not find in recent generations.
Two people can perform the same mitzvah, and one of them will receive a huge reward and the other will receive a small reward. Two people can give a hundred shekels to charity, one of them will receive a huge reward for it and the other a little reward. A poor person who gives a hundred shekels has made a big sacrifice and will receive a huge reward for that. A rich man who gives a 100 shekels, it is like two cents for him, so he only receives a small reward.
Today, keeping commandments does not entail a lot of toil and difficulty. A person who wants to hear a Torah lecture presses a button and can hear a Torah lecture. In the old days, Hillel had to climb on the roof of the study hall in a snowstorm to hear the lecture through the chimney until he fainted from the cold.
A person should think about how he can put forth effort in honor of the holiday if he wants to experience its special taste. If he doesn’t toil for the commandment he will not experience the commandment’s specialness.
We see that God commanded the Israelites to prepare for the Passover sacrifice by going and taking a lamb -- the idol which the Egyptians worshipped -- and tying it to a bed for a few days. If they had to sacrifice a lamb to God, why was it necessary to tie the lamb to a bed for a few days?
God wanted to create tension. The Egyptians would see that the Israelites took their god and tied it to a bed. The Israelites would be frightened and tense, afraid that the Egyptians would come and slaughter them for having taken their god, tying it to a bed and showing utter contempt for their idols. God considered the Israelite’s fear and putting themselves in danger as important as the fulfillment of a commandment. When the Israelites would sit down to eat the Passover sacrifice, it would have great significance. That Passover would have a special flavor that they wouldn’t have achieved if they hadn’t put themselves in danger.
There is a special spice which comes from toil and dedication and self-sacrifice. If you toil and exhaust yourself, your food will contain this spice that will make you holy and special. The matzah of thirty years ago is not like today's. Maybe it is more sophisticated today, but it lacks the special spice of putting forth tremendous effort. Passover food of thirty years ago is not the same as today's, because it lacks this special spice it had thirty years ago.
This meaning can also be understood from the question of the evil son that we read in the Haggadah: "Why are you doing this work?" You can buy matzah at the store, so why work so hard? You can buy wine in the supermarket, so why put forth all this effort?
So how do we get back this feeling today? How do we restore the spice for commandments and good deeds, the spice for Passover, Sukkot and Hanukkah?
One of the ways is through the commandment of Kimcha d’Pischa, the Pesach fund for the poor. This is a very great and unparalleled commandment. Jewish law compels all the residents of a city to donate money to provide the poor with their Passover needs.
Today we don't have the taste, effort and dedication that our fathers experienced when preparing for Passover. They did much of the preparations themselves - they slaughtered the lamb, prepared the matzahs, and put a great deal of physical labor into preparing for Passover. Today, we don’t have to make matzahs or prepare wine and other holiday foods from scratch. The world has changed.
But we can still put forth devoted effort to fulfill Kimcha d’Pischa. When we get involved in the distribution for the poor, and we impress upon our children, grandchildren and wider family members that we are preparing Kimcha d’Pischa for those who don’t have and personally are caring for them, we show that we don’t have the attitude of "Why are you doing this work?" We will regain the spice that is missing on Passover eve and will enable all our family members to enjoy the spice too.
This article was written in cooperation with Shuva Israel