Searching for the Easy Way Out
When I found myself in New York before Pesach one year, I was met by a couple who related that they were intending to spend the Pesach holiday in Miami. “Why don’t you celebrate the holiday of freedom in your own home?” I asked, surprised.
“We have personal reasons for our decision,” the man said.
But I would not let up. Their entire extended family lived in New York. What could they possibly seek specifically in Miami?
Finally, the wife spoke up. “It’s all because of me that we decided to travel for the holiday. I have no strength to clean the house and prepare it for Pesach. We prefer to simply lock up for the entire holiday, sell our chametz, and relocate.”
I was truly taken aback by her words. “You should know that I live in France and intend to spend Pesach in Eretz Yisrael. But before I fly, I will make sure to remove every last vestige of chametz from my home. I will not do this in order to come home to a sparkling house, but in order to fulfill the mitzvah of bedikat chametz! I would never forego the mitzvah of laboring to clean the house of chametz.”
It is the work we invest in our mitzvot which enables us to perceive their goodness and sweetness. Only one who exerts himself in mitzvot finds fulfillment. But one who shakes off the crumbs of this exertion prevents himself from finding the spiritual satisfaction they provide.
