PESACH CLEANING AND THE HOLY SPARKS

What can possibly be inspiring about Pesach cleaning? A lot, if you ask me. Over the years, I've tried to come up with many ways to make this yearly undertaking more meaningful and even enjoyable. My latest inspiration comes from a shiur by R' Nasan Maimon.

R' Nasan was explaining the famous idea from Torah 54 in "Likutei Moharan" that all things contain sparks of holiness, and a person's nefesh, too, contains these sparks. So, if a person acquires something containing holy sparks that share the same root with the sparks in their soul and then uses this thing in their avodas Hashem, all these sparks become elevated so that both the person and the thing receive their tikkun. 

So, for example, if a woman is suddenly drawn to a dress in a store window and feels she absolutely has to buy it, this could mean that this dress contains the same kinds of holy sparks as her soul. If she indeed buys this dress and wears it for Shabbos or Yom Tov, this will help elevate all these sparks. (Of course, this could also mean that the lady in question is just a shopaholic, but that is another story...)

Sometimes it happens that a thing contains many holy sparks and has to go through a long period of rectification. First it is used by one person, and when this person exhausts all the sparks related to them, they suddenly feel an urge to sell it or give it away so that another person can get a chance to take part in this tikkun.

R' Nasan compared this to an assembly line where the item being built passes along the conveyor belt and every worker puts in their piece, Only after everyone has made their contribution is the product finally completed.

This idea may seem somewhat abstract, but for me, it was very practical. It gave me a strong push to give away all the clothes I no longer use. Believe me, there are literally tons of them, some still in very good condition, waiting for the (unlikely) chance to be remembered and worn again. There are probably hundreds of holy sparks trapped in them, with no way no receive their tikkun To use R' Nasan's metaphor, I'm like an incompetent worker on an assembly line, drowning in all the things I've neglected to pass along.

But no more! As we're headed full steam towards Pesach, I'd like to prove to Hashem that He can trust me to do His work - including on the "clothing assembly line". So, hopefully, my Pesach cleaning this year is going to include donating many things to our local gemach as well as offering them to friends. In exchange, I will get this "light and new" feeling that only spring and Pesach can bring.

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