This year, I am feeling drawn to focusing on preparing my children for the chag and preparing myself to feel and contain the great holy light of Leil HaSeder!
Rosh Chodesh Nissan finally arrived this Shabbos, which means we are in full swing of Pesach preparations! As one sales-lady said to me as she was ringing me up at a clothing sale last week: brace for impact! LOL! True, true – there is a ton to do and a ton of expenses to go with all of the doing. That being said, this year I am not going to focus on the “brace for impact” aspect as much as I have in the past. This year, I am feeling drawn to focusing on preparing my children for the chag and preparing myself to feel and contain the great holy light that comes down on Leil HaSeder.
My first focus is to read a few pages of the Haggadah with my younger kids each night, which we actually started doing last week. We are using the Waxberger Haggadah for kids. It has gorgeous pictures on large pages and is a pleasure to go through. The kids ask questions about what we’ve just read, and we discuss Pesach in general as well. I got this idea from my homeschool group and have no idea why I never thought of it before. It is such a great way to get the kids excited and in full anticipation for Seder night!
The second thing I am going to try to be super consistent with is to daven every morning to Hashem for Divine help with Pesach cleaning and other holiday preparations, both physical and spiritual. I have a personal prayer that I say every morning, with some changes to it a, depending on what is on my mind and to do list that day. Here it is below in case you are in interested in getting an idea for this type of prayer.
The kids ask questions about what we’ve just read, and we discuss Pesach in general as well.
Hashem, please help me to be able to clean both my house and my heart of chametz, including all negative emotions, so as to sanctify Your name. Please help me not go overboard with tasks that are not truly needed for Pesach, which will only serve to stress me out in the next two weeks. Please allow that any physical cleaning and preparations I do for the chag, will also enhance the inner cleansing of my heart so that I will be able to hold as much of the holy light of the Seder night as possible.
I have a personal prayer that I say every morning…
Please Hashem help me remember that I am doing Your will, the will of the Creator of the world! Help me come closer to you through doing Your will for Pesach and instill within me a knowing that I can always feel close to You and therefore feel and spread through my home goodness, joy, calm, peace, Emunah and positivity.
Ladies, I know things can get “a little” cra-cra in the two weeks leading up to Pesach. The kids are home, the messes are big, the to-do list is out of control and the budget seems to get blown into outer space. Still, setting your intention each and every day, to feel calm and joyful in your home because this is Hashem’s greatest will for us, goes a long way.
Wishing you peaceful and pleasant Pesach preparations!
