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Before a holiday, I like to take the time to really understand its meaning, especially one like Pesach, which is so clouded with its stigma of being difficult, a hardship, all that cleaning…As I related in a previous post (See “Rosh HaShana, the Sweet Circle”), there is the idea that time stands still and we move through it.  Each day, then, on the Jewish calendar, is the same in terms of its spiritual reality, as it was in previous years, and it will always be so.  Therefore, Rav Dessler tells us in Michtav MeEliyahu, when we celebrate a holiday we are not simply commemorating a past event.  We are reexperiencing the spiritual power of the day that manifested itself in the event that we are remembering.

So just what is the special spiritual power of Pesach?

In Gemara Rosh HaShana, there is a discussion about when the ultimate redemption of the Jewish people will occur.  One opinion is that it will happen in Tishrei, the beginning of the calendar year.  The opinion of Rabbi Yehoshua, however is “בניסן נגאלו ובניסן עתידין ליגאל” They were redeemed in Nissan (the month of Pesach when we were taken out of Egypt) and in the future they will be redeemed in Nissan.

At first glance this seems pretty simple.  “If it happened once then, might as well say it can happen then again!”  Yet if we take this opinion and couple it with what has been said about the true idea of holidays, I think we can give a possible answer to our question.

We’re told that when the Jews were taken out of Egypt, they were on the 49th level on impurity.  Had they become any more impure, they would never have been able to return to spiritual cleanliness.  Therefore, the Almighty had to redeem the Jews then.  The redemption from slavery in Egypt did not happen because the Jews actively merited it and elevated themselves to a level of worthiness.  Yet the redemption occured then, specifically then.  The Almighty does nothing by chance, it is all quite deliberate.  So why did He redeem the Jews then?

Perhaps the month of Nissan, the month of that Redemption and possibly, according to Rabbi Yehoshua, our future Redemption, is suffused with a spiritual inclination toward Redemption.  Perhaps Redemption, freedom (Pesach is also known as Zman Cherutenu, the Time of our Freedom) is more attainable during this month, perhaps we have some extra, inherent merit toward Redemption.

Personally, I believe this might just be true.  So, I beseech all of you to be aware of this spiritual reality and try to harness it.  Do something to elevate yourselves, be it learning, singing, reading, anything that makes you feel connected to the Almighty.  Maybe, just maybe, if we all make just a tiny extra effort to achieve some measure of spiritual elevation, we can finally merit the Redemption, and fulfill our age-old prayer of לשנה הבאה בירושלים הבנויה, Next Year in the Rebuilt Jerusalem, amen!