Preparing for Pesach: Time for Renewal

--

Although we see snow on the ground today, we know that spring is on its way.  Each year we experience the miracle that the natural world, which seems lifeless through the winter, renews itself and begins to come to life and to grow again in the spring.  But too often, we miss the lesson that this holds for our human lives.  We, too, often find ourselves at what seems like the end of our own story.  We feel lifeless and hopeless, unable to find a way to move forward.  We can relate to our ancestors in Egypt, unable to imagine a life beyond slavery, resistant even to the promise that Moses holds out to them that the future could be very different.  But the message of spring, like the message of the Pesach story, is that renewal – and even radical change – is always possible, even when it looks like the path before us is a dead end.  We, too, can find our way to growth and new life, taking our inspiration from the stories of the ancient Israelites and from the miracles we see daily in the natural world.  As we begin to clean our houses and plan our Pesach celebrations, may we feel ourselves opening up to the promise of renewal that this season holds for all of us.

Blog