From Stress to Joy: A New Way to Clean for Pesach

If you’re in the thick of Pesach cleaning, perhaps you’re running, out of breath, scrubbing and rushing. And between it all, it’s important to understand that cleaning your home from chametz is compared to the service of the High Priest. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev taught that removing chametz from the home is similar to the work of the High Priest on Yom Kippur. And when you do it with joy, you can even merit Divine inspiration.

This is not ordinary cleaning. It is deeply spiritual and elevated. When you understand this, it becomes easier to clean with joy and lightness, and without anger. Anger cancels the abundance of these days and distances amazing blessings from you. The children are not chametz, and your husband is not the Passover sacrifice. You can clean together, in partnership and joy. Include your children and your husband in the work.

A Story About Helping at Home

Rabbi Biderman tells of a righteous man who entered the study hall a few days before Passover and saw young scholars learning diligently. The tzaddik climbed onto the platform and announced, “Dear community, forgive me for interrupting your learning, but I have a long list of poor widowed women who urgently need help preparing for Passover. They need windows lifted, heavy things moved, and physical assistance.”

All the scholars immediately volunteered to help. The tzaddik asked them to stand in a line and said he would give each one an address. They left the study hall filled with the joy of a mitzvah, ready to do kindness for others, each holding a small note.

When they opened the notes, they discovered that each one had received the address of his own home.

A New Approach This Year

Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev says that from every act of Passover cleaning, angels are created. From every scrub, every scratch, every effort, angels are formed, just like the angels created by the shofar blasts on Rosh Hashanah. These angels speak on your behalf and on behalf of your family in Heaven. Every effort you make before Passover weakens and removes harmful forces from the world.

The days of Nisan are incredibly powerful. They are days filled with blessings and miracles. Nisan itself means a constant miracle. The Shelah HaKadosh writes that every day of Nisan is as holy as Rosh Chodesh. The first twelve days of the month carry the spiritual strength of the entire year, and every hour in these days is like a full day. Every prayer, blessing, or chapter of Psalms is considered twelvefold in Heaven. If we truly understood what we hold in our hands, we would not waste even a moment.

Guard Your Joy During These Days

The evil inclination wants to bring you down. Precisely because these days are so important, wake up each morning with joy. Before Passover there is a yetzer hara called “I am missing something.” If you feel something is lacking, ask God for it and keep moving forward. When God sees that you place your trust in Him and continue forward with confidence, He will give to you. 

Life requires patience. As it says, “from shortness of spirit and hard labor.” When patience is lacking, the work feels heavier. During this time, clean while giving thanks. Stay focused and work with order. Prepare a clear list of tasks just for today. Do not look at a giant overwhelming mountain. Personally, I keep a daily list prepared in advance of what I plan to do, and it is amazing how much it helps.

Turning Cleaning Into Prayer

When you clean a window, ask God that you will never look with envy at others, and that you will always rejoice in your own portion.

When you clean the table, pray that it will always be full and joyful, and that your family will sit around it together all year, with no one missing.

When you clean the oven, and if you have reached the oven you are already doing great, ask God for the strength to prepare healthy and nourishing food and to bring joy to your family. Pray for Shabbat, for the festivals, and for future celebrations.

When you clean pockets, pray to be protected from wrongdoing, that you will never take what is not yours. Remember, cleaning time is also the time to return anything borrowed or lost.

When you clean the door, ask to fulfill the mitzvah of welcoming guests with warmth, and that only blessings should enter your home.

When you clean the mirror, ask that you always see yourself as beautiful and worthy. It is so important to value yourself. Find the good and beautiful points within you. Do not compare yourself to the neighbor who already finished preparing for Passover or whose children seem perfectly organized. You are perfect just as you are.

Use this time to ask.

The Power of the Month of Nisan

About this month it says, “This month is for you.” The power is truly placed in your hands, the power to bring salvation and mercy for the entire year. Welcome to the month of spring. The Hebrew word for spring, Aviv, hints to “a father to the twelve,” the beginning and source of all twelve months of the year.

So truly, from the heart, may everyone have a joyful spring festival filled with great happiness.