There is a lot to discuss, but no time to write it all out now.
Note: With Leil HaSeder coming up fast and Shabbat quick on its heels, blogging and posting comments will probably slow down temporarily. Sorry for any lags.
So, what follows are brief personal notes regarding the current situation...
Note: With Leil HaSeder coming up fast and Shabbat quick on its heels, blogging and posting comments will probably slow down temporarily. Sorry for any lags.
So, what follows are brief personal notes regarding the current situation...
First of all, I must thank all of the rabbanim who went out of their way to emphasize scaled-down Pesach cleaning this year, and also gave clear instructions about what is really necessary to clean for chametz only (as opposed to the Pesach "feeling" of spring cleaning), and they also emphasized the good of the children at home all the time now.
Their guidance really made things so much easier for me, both emotionally & physically.
Hashem should bless them for this chessed.
Their guidance really made things so much easier for me, both emotionally & physically.
Hashem should bless them for this chessed.
The inability to access items was a bit frustrating.
Many stores in Eretz Yisrael are doing phone-orders & deliveries, but I never managed to get through to them, so even though I wanted at least one more pot for Pesach (after discovering last year that I really didn't have enough), and a few more of those really good knives I recently discovered that cut through tomatoes and meat like butter (a serrated blade from the Swiss brand called Victorinox) and a new broom-head...no dice.
On the other hand, it was kind of a relief not to have to run around a buy tons of stuff before the Omer.
Just make due with what we have.
So when the option simply isn't there, it goes out of the mind. (Unless, of course, it's something one urgently needs. If the lockdown continues for a long time more, we're going to run into issues with clothing my growing 5-year-old; I don't have much saved for this age from his older brothers. Yet I think I have some and anyway, there are always good neighbors with hand-me-downs...)
And while the rest of the world was buying out toilet paper (which, really, is NOT as essential as so many other things in a pandemic like soaps, food, bleach, vitamin C, and FOOD; there are other alternatives to t.p.), I think many of us were making sure we had enough aluminum foil for Pesach!
I'm down to my last role, baruch Hashem.
Anyway, I feel this is Hashem really taking our emphasis of off material things.
(Although, on the other hand, I do feel for people who are forced to make a Seder on their own for the first time and really do NEED all the cooking utensils and either had a very hard time getting them or didn't get everything they needed. Or people who desperately need a haircut and cannot get one. That's exasperating.)
But a lot of buying occurs "l'khvod hachag" and even if old shoes or whatever are still perfectly decent, we like to buy new stuff – all for the honor of Pesach.
Not this year.
We need to enjoy Pesach for what it actually is, like it or not, and not for all that we usually invest in it materially.
Many stores in Eretz Yisrael are doing phone-orders & deliveries, but I never managed to get through to them, so even though I wanted at least one more pot for Pesach (after discovering last year that I really didn't have enough), and a few more of those really good knives I recently discovered that cut through tomatoes and meat like butter (a serrated blade from the Swiss brand called Victorinox) and a new broom-head...no dice.
On the other hand, it was kind of a relief not to have to run around a buy tons of stuff before the Omer.
Just make due with what we have.
So when the option simply isn't there, it goes out of the mind. (Unless, of course, it's something one urgently needs. If the lockdown continues for a long time more, we're going to run into issues with clothing my growing 5-year-old; I don't have much saved for this age from his older brothers. Yet I think I have some and anyway, there are always good neighbors with hand-me-downs...)
And while the rest of the world was buying out toilet paper (which, really, is NOT as essential as so many other things in a pandemic like soaps, food, bleach, vitamin C, and FOOD; there are other alternatives to t.p.), I think many of us were making sure we had enough aluminum foil for Pesach!
I'm down to my last role, baruch Hashem.
Anyway, I feel this is Hashem really taking our emphasis of off material things.
(Although, on the other hand, I do feel for people who are forced to make a Seder on their own for the first time and really do NEED all the cooking utensils and either had a very hard time getting them or didn't get everything they needed. Or people who desperately need a haircut and cannot get one. That's exasperating.)
But a lot of buying occurs "l'khvod hachag" and even if old shoes or whatever are still perfectly decent, we like to buy new stuff – all for the honor of Pesach.
Not this year.
We need to enjoy Pesach for what it actually is, like it or not, and not for all that we usually invest in it materially.
Baruch Hashem, Pesach falls smack in the middle of the week this year, which is a lifesaver, else it would be so much more stressful to get the kitchen ready for Pesach.
Probably like a lot of other people, I actually needed to make challahs for Shabbat Hagadol because it was too much to have family members go wait outside for God knows how long just to buy a few challahs.
Also, no sending the older kids out to eat. No, I needed to get things cooking even before I davened this morning so that I could have the kitchen free for cleaning & kashering.
And because Pesach falls mid-week, it ends up being more conducive to all this extra work. So that's a chessed from Hashem.
Probably like a lot of other people, I actually needed to make challahs for Shabbat Hagadol because it was too much to have family members go wait outside for God knows how long just to buy a few challahs.
Also, no sending the older kids out to eat. No, I needed to get things cooking even before I davened this morning so that I could have the kitchen free for cleaning & kashering.
And because Pesach falls mid-week, it ends up being more conducive to all this extra work. So that's a chessed from Hashem.
Please find the time to read the dvar Torah from Rav Avigdor Miller put together by Toras Avigdor:
Pesach – Morning of Redemption
Even if you only manage after Leil HaSeder, it's still so worth it.
Rav Miller describes what Galus was like for the Jews throughout different periods of our history, including way back in Egypt, in Rome, and in early 20th-Century America, and more.
He brings it alive and emphasizes the cocoons frum Jews have successfully made in Exile.
Pesach – Morning of Redemption
Even if you only manage after Leil HaSeder, it's still so worth it.
Rav Miller describes what Galus was like for the Jews throughout different periods of our history, including way back in Egypt, in Rome, and in early 20th-Century America, and more.
He brings it alive and emphasizes the cocoons frum Jews have successfully made in Exile.
For those who are alone this year, I hope your Seder will still be spiritually fulfilling.
I hope so, but I know it's hard. And disappointing.
And I sincerely hope this will be the last time you will ever be alone for Leil HaSeder.
I hope so, but I know it's hard. And disappointing.
And I sincerely hope this will be the last time you will ever be alone for Leil HaSeder.
If you're interesting in all the Pesach articles (including recipes) from this blog, please either click "Pesach" in the "Categories" section in the sidebar, or just click this link:
www.myrtlerising.com/blog/category/pesach
May Hashem please bless everyone with robust mental & physical health, and may we all enjoy a Pesach that is truly kosher & same'ach (joyous), and may Mashiach please come quickly & sweetly to rescue us from this crushing Exile.
www.myrtlerising.com/blog/category/pesach
May Hashem please bless everyone with robust mental & physical health, and may we all enjoy a Pesach that is truly kosher & same'ach (joyous), and may Mashiach please come quickly & sweetly to rescue us from this crushing Exile.
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