Spring is the time of year when God reminds us that things are not always as they seem. Passover, our Spring holiday, is proof of the kosher for Pesach pudding. Over the course of a few short weeks, what appears hopelessly dead comes to life. Bleak woodlands are transformed into colorful landscapes. Trees whose naked arms reached to heaven all winter, as if pleading to be clothed, suddenly are adorned with lacy green gowns. Flowers that faded and fell to the ground in surrender to the cold rise slowly from the earth in defiance of death.
In the Torah, we read about our ancestors’ seemingly hopeless situation in Egypt. Pharaoh enslaved the Israelites and set taskmaster over them. They built the store cities of Pithon and Ramses. But the more the Egyptians oppressed the Jewish people the more they increased and spread out. Pharaoh even commanded that all the male children be put to death. Life was as bitter as the maror we eat during the seder.
When all seemed hopeless, God heard the cry and moaning of the Israelites, remembered His covenant with our forefathers, and resolved to redeem them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. (Exodus chapter 2) And as we say: “The rest is history.”
With this Shabbat, Shabbat HaHodesh, we begin the month of Nisan with a blessing. Seeing the first buds, we recite, “Blessed are You our God, King of the Universe, who has withheld nothing from his world, but has created in it beautiful creatures and tress for human beings to enjoy.
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