I think a lot about transitions when it comes to my kids. For one of my children, it’s quite hard. Each moment expands and takes on its own meaning, its own form of engagement and play. When I step back, it’s beautiful. When I focus in and we actually need to get to school in the morning (a new thing these days!) it can be maddening when she is still lingering in her PJs.
Transitions
I feel like transitions are like the white space between words. It’s not the thing itself, but it creates the space to journey, to prepare, and to consider what is coming next.
With Purim behind us and Passover four weeks away, I am thinking about the meaning I want to give to these four weeks of transition.
Each holiday represents two opposing impulses. Purim reflects a world gone wild, where there is political disorder and God is hidden. At Passover, God takes center stage. The redemptive narrative is straightforward. And the retelling of the story through the hagaddah takes place in a highly constructed order or seder.
A Journey
Each Jewish holiday is like an inn on our journey throughout the calendar year, says Rabbi Michael Strassfeld. In each inn, we can stay for a few days and remember the human yearning that the Jewish holiday responds to. On Purim, our yearning is to be validated that sometimes the world looks and feels chaotic. That feeling is more palpable now more than ever as we live alongside the pandemic. On Passover, our yearning is to know that b’khol zot, with all of it, there is a strong spiritual Presence and that personal and collective freedom is possible.
On the most granular level, that freedom plays out when we ask ourselves a question that opens up a possibility that things can be different.
Questions to Ask Yourself
The questions I am thinking about now as I journey toward Passover are:
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What is the order I am longing for now more than ever?
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What is one small step I can take in the direction of creating more order (maybe in my home, or with an issue that has been long neglected with one of my kids)?
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What is a mantra I can say to myself to remind myself each day to continue to put things in order?
With each question asked, new possibilities and the potential for personal freedom opens wide. Come and try it.
Blessings for the journey,
Dasee
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