Some people feel a bit of a letdown after packing all their Pesach [Passover] things away. Though we are counting the days and weeks until the holiday of Shavuouth, the next holiday is still in the distance. We have returned to school or work, or -- given the state of the job market in New York -- back to job searching, sending out resumes, and hoping for interviews. In other words, we are now back in the groove of our standard routine, and the holiday that took weeks of preparation is nearly forgotten. But the holiday high need not dissipate altogether. Here's a bit of inspiration to carry you through the more mundane times.
From Extraordinary to Ordinary: Post-Pesach Recovery
by Rabbi Chaim Brown
Let us look at how the Israelites reacted to the end fo their first Pesach experience. The Midrash (Shmos Rabbah 24:2) teaches:
"R' Yehudah said - At that time Bnei Yisrael said, 'Hashem took us out of Egypt for five things: to give us the spoils of Egypt, to carry us on the clouds of glory, to split the sea, to exact punishment on the Egyptians, and for us to sing shira. Now, he already has given us the spoils of Egypt, carried us on the clouds of glory, meted out punishment to the Egyptians, split the sea, and we sang shira, so let us return to Mitzrayim!' Moshe said to them, 'Hashem has said to me that you shall never see the Egyptians again as you have seen them this day'..."
I think there is an obvious lesson in this Midrash that relates to the "post Yom Tov" return to routine. Every Yom Tov is ideally a time of spiritual growth and renewal, a time to become reinvigorated with spirituality and Torah. Yet, after Yom Tov one faces the inevitable return to work and school and business as usual - the matzah is hardly digested on the eighth day when one is already swallowing those first bites of pizza (see Ma'aseh Rav of the GR"A #185)! We risk an attitude of "been there, done that" with respect to Yom Tov as we race to return to Mitzrayim, to resume the same old habits that we had beforehand. Chazal are trying to teach us that the experience of a Yom Tov should leave an indelible impression; we should be wary so that we do not return to the same routine and habit as before, but carry with us some of that invigorating energy of matzah, maror, and Torah to improve the everyday life experiences that will remain after the holiday ends.
Perhaps there is also a more subtle point to this teaching of Chazal. Not only here, but throughout the journey in the desert the constant refrain of the Isreaelites' complaints was "Nitna rosh v'nashuva Mitzrayma" - "Let us turn back to Egypt" We know that the journey through the desert was a transition period between the spiritual high of the direct manifestation of the Shechina [Divine Presence] which took us out of Egypt and miraculously provided for every need and the training of Bnei Yisrael to have the self-sustenance necessary to build the Land of Israel through natural means (see Netziv's introduction to Sefer BaMidbar). R' Tzadok haKohein in Machshavos Charutz (p. 9) writes that each time the Isaelies faced a test or a trial that became too difficult, they begged for a return to the experience of the Exodus, for a return to the pattern of the Shechina revealing itself and caring for their needs without their efforts as they had experienced during Yetziyas Mitzrayim. He radically reinterprets the refrain of "Nitna rosh v'nashuva" as not a desire to return to slavery, but a desire to return to that spiritual high which marked the Exodus form Egypt.
In light of this interpretation of R' Tzadok, perhaps this same idea is being conveyed by the Midrash. Now that the roller coaster ride of Yetziyas Mitzrayim, collecting the spoils of the Egyptian army, seeing the splitting of the sea, and singing shira is over, Bnei Yisrael desired only to go back and re-experience the same ride all over again. Once the heights of spiritual ecstasy have been tasted, it becomes hard to let go of "extraordinary" and move beyond that to the "ordinary" mode of our daily grind. Yet, this too is part of Hashem's plan. Life is not meant to be all spiritual highs, where we are carried daily by the Shechina. We are responsible to make our own way through trials and burdens with the Shechina hiding in the wings, utilizing the inspiration and excitement we carry with us from those great heights that only sometimes we merit to experience.
"B'yom tova heyei b'tov, u'byom ra'ah re'eh" - "In the day of goodness, be glad, and on a day of misfortune, consider" (Koheles 7:14). R' Bunim M"Peshischa interpreted this to mean that when you have a day of goodness, a Yom Tov, consider and look ahead then to the day of misfortune, and take with you the inspiration to guide you through it. Not all of our days can be Yamim Tovim, but we can draw from those days of tov that we have the guidence and inspiration to carry us through the intervening weeks, until we draw again close to the Shechina and experience another Yom Tov.
For more articles by Rabbi Chaim Brown see http://kallahmagazine.com/DivreiTorah1.htm and his blog http://divreichaim.blogspot.com/
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