IT ALL STARTS WITH PESACH CLEANING

This post is for those brave and tenacious souls out there who consistently learn "Likutei Moharan".

Now that Purim is over and we're heading towards Nissan, which new Torah should we be learning? Personallly, I'd rather choose something that would help me prepare for the coming Pesach. Like Torah 25 that explains how every person, regardless of where they find themselves, has to constantly advance from level to level. But each new level is surrounded by klipos (literally "shells"), very much like a fruit is surrounded by peel. Before we can enter this level, we have to conquer the klipos. Practically this means that we find ourselves suddenly assaulted by confusion, obstacles, and wrong desires, which all have to be conquered prior to getting to the desired level.

But was does this have to do with Pesach? Last week I was listening to a class on this Torah by R' Nasan Maimon, and he used preparing for Pesach as an example to illustrate this dynamic. Before we can eat the matzah (which represents a great new level of spiritual knowledge), we have to conquer the klipos by strenuously cleaning for Pesach. Only then will we be truly ready for this spectacular level of daas. 

I hope this idea is going to make my Pesach cleaning easier and more meaningful. I don't mind organizing my house, but I absolutely hate the actual cleaning part and prefer to delegate it as much as possible to my husband and children. But maybe this year will be different. I plan to spend some more time learning Torah 25 and internalizing the fact that I'll have to first clean out the mess (aka the klipos) if I truly want to reach any new level this Pesach. Then I'm going to envision the crumbs and the grime as representing everything that is holding me back from where I want to see myself on Pesach, and the fight will truly begin!

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