When a Yid is involved in all the practical hachanos, and he is present thereby, he can accomplish even more than learning Maharal for Pesach. Because he has taken the Maharal’s holy and proper thoughts, and he has invested them into actions. This spiritually cleanses a person! He arrives at the mitzvah purified and cleansed! He doesn’t simply fall into the Yom Tov.
This Yid hasn’t changed anything in his actions themselves. He did everything that he needed to. He only changed his thoughts. He understands that these preparations are an avodah—and he treats them as such.
People prepare the Shabbos licht... they help in the kitchen... they run to and fro... and then they fall into Shabbos completely drained, because they were so preoccupied and scattered.
How bright and illuminated will our Shabbos and Yom Tov be if we only elevated our thoughts as we go about preparing for the mitzvos. They will surely be elevated to levels we could never have imagined—purely as a result of the hachanah that we make.
