Preparing, Is a Mitzvah

Don’t look now but it’s coming fast and furious. Pesach, that is. In fact (if my calendar is telling the truth) in exactly twenty one days Jews the world over will be reclining at their respective Seders. Years ago, growing up as a child, all of this meant my mother washing, scrubbing, and polishing. It also meant, once the living room was cleaned for the Holiday, it was off limits to us children. Soon afterwards we could not enter the basement, then another room, and another…..

I must admit as bad as it was then, now its worse. These days, I’m one of the folks, sleeves rolled up and - you guessed it - cleaning.

Sometimes it seems that all of the endless preparations are not worth it. Let’s face it, the Seder only lasts a couple of hours. Yet, we spend untold hours buying the special foods, grating the home made maror and charoses, cooking everyone’s favorites, dragging out the Pesach dishes, etc. The list of chores goes on and on.

One could almost give up and say, “Why put in all the effort?” Thankfully, and just in time, there is a section in the Bible usually read around this time of year (Shmini) that provides us with the answer.

The Torah informs us that the Jews had amassed all the materials necessary for the construction of the first desert Sanctuary. They designed, they molded, they hammered, they painted, and then they finally finished the project. Nonetheless, another additional seven days with Moses dressed up as High Priest offering sacrifices were spent in preparation for the official inauguration. A dry run, if you will. Eventually, the stage was set for the first official day, the one with the ribbon-cutting ceremony. So what does the Torah call that opening day? “Shmini - It was the Eighth day.”

Did I just say Eighth day? True, that day was the culmination of the preceding seven days. Still would it not have seemed more appropriate to emphasize that it was the first day of the functioning of the new Temple? After all, the first week was nothing more than a mere ‘practice’ session! So why was the eighth-ness of the day given such prominence?

One pertinent reason: the Bible wants to teach us that the preparations one makes for doing a mitzvah are nearly as important as the mitzvah itself. By referring to the day of inauguration as the eighth, it highlights that the earlier seven cannot be dismisses as insignificant. In other words, one doesn’t merely prepare for a mitzvah; preparations are a mitzvah.

So for the next three weeks as you prepare for the family Seder, smile, you’re doing something important. In fact, you are doing a mitzvah.