A Guten Chodesh!

This is my favorite time of year.

The weather is warmer, the tulips are pushing up, and my cherry blossom trees are budding. (Each year I call them my Pesach gift from Hashem).

It’s also an incredibly busy time, whether you are hosting, or travelling. Either way there can be joy in preparation. There can be a tremendous feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction, and it still comes with challenges of the myriad details, deadlines, and decisions. 

The endless supply of suggestions, classes and hacks that we are treated to can help us navigate the tasks, but without an understanding and a deeper appreciation for what we are creating, it becomes just that; a list of tasks.

The end purpose of all this work are the halachos and mitzvos associated with Pesach. Chametz out, Pesach in. That sense of mission alone, will carry many a woman.

I, personally choose to expand that sense of mission and see it through the lens of creating family, connection, timelessness, and strength.

At a recent Shabbos for Mechanchim, Rabbi Uri Deutsch shared an anecdote about a person walking on a sidewalk, who glances down at the pavement, and notices a small button. The button, itself, is useless to him. It’s not valuable in and of itself, and it’s replaceable. The owner of this button, would be impossible to find and has certainly given up on finding it.

Now let’s look at the same ‘button’ in another scenario.  A person walks into a notion store and asks the proprietor for a specific button to replace the one he has lost. The shopkeeper will spend considerable time looking for that button. He looks into box after box searching high and low.

Why is he looking so hard? It’s only a button.

Is it any more valuable than the first button, that was lying in the street?

The store owner understands that he is not just selling him a button. He is investing in a relationship. He has expended time and effort and he knows that when this person needs something in the future to fix a garment, or when he wants to have an expensive suit made, this establishment has proven that they will provide him with the best quality fabric.

This is the relationship that has been created from a single button.

When you sit down to your Yom Tov table, whether you are home or away, no one but you will know how many drawers you searched, how many ladders you climbed, how many rooms you checked with dedication, love, serenity, and simcha to create what you see before you.

Enjoy every minute of it.

It’s yours.