What better time to ponder the spring season than the end of January! As I softly cup my hands around a steaming cup of hot chocolate, I can picture the red budding leaves forming on dormant tree limbs, and the fresh, green daffodil foliage peeking through the soil. When my mind paints this annual display of G-d’s wonders, it kindles the feeling of His ever-presence.

However, the glorious and miraculous can draw attention from the small wonders. If we were to witness a nation’s water transformed to blood, three days and nights of paralyzing darkness, and the splitting of a sea we could mistakenly think that G-d’s might is present, but not ever-present. We can witness an obvious miracle, but live most of life forgetting there’s a G-d.

For this reason, Passover, which commemorates the leaving of Egypt, must be celebrated in the spring, just as the Exodus itself took place during that season. On the morning after hearing the detailed account of the open miracles of the Exodus around a Seder table, a little boy or girl can walk outside and witness the exodus of daffodils from frozen soil or leaf buds from dead limbs. Mentally fusing the two events, the Passover lessons can then penetrate their souls and prepare them for a lifetime of constant exodus from challenging trials to the comforting, and empowering, recognition of His ever-presence. (Based on Rav Shimon Schwab zt”l)

Good Shabbos!
Rabbi Mordechai Dixler
Program Director, Project Genesis – Torah.org