There is a story about an adam gadol who was hosted by a distinguished personality. This host offered him a cup of tea. The guest, in order to keep his custom of not eating in other people’s homes on Pesach, made as if he is drinking, but poured the tea into his beard.
There is a story about the Brisker Rov visiting R. Chayim Ozer. Then R. Chayim Ozer gave him a cup of tea with sugar. The Brisker Rov didn’t ever drink sugar, due to his meticulous concerns about kashrus, but this time he did. People joked that when the Brisker Rov meets R. Chayim Ozer, chametz on Pesach becomes allowed... Behind this joke is the fact that people consider chametz to be the very symbol of that which is asur.
What does the exceptional stringency of chametz on Pesach teach us about avodas Hashem?
Get the Details Right
Our avodah on Pesach is to be particular even about little details, to make a big deal about them.
Here’s a metaphor to illustrate the point. An artist has two ways he can draw a picture. One way is to draw long, broad strokes, and from the outline, we can see the picture. The other way is if the artist troubles himself to draw in each and every detail of the picture, even the littlest things, and thus creates a perfect and complete picture.
Also in avodas Hashem, there are two ways to “create the picture.” Some people serve Hashem by drawing broad strokes. The general picture created by the course of their day is a positive one. The person davens three tefilos every day. All in all, it looks good. Once he davened well, and another time not so well, but the general impression is positive. Every day he learned with a chavrusa. Once he came on time for learning, and another time he was late, but the overall picture is positive. This person doesn’t look at the details. The main thing is that all told, he learns and davens every day.
We could compare this to patching things back together at home. When there is a quarrel between husband and wife, they patch things up and make “shalom bayis.” Admittedly, there is still a problem over here and an issue over there, but all in all, they stitched their life back together in a way that the general picture is positive, despite certain details not being ironed out.
This is one way of avodas Hashem.
Pesach teaches us that this is not really the right way to serve Hashem. That which is kosher all year long is chametz on Pesach. On Pesach, any chametz at all, even a little bit, is asur. The details matter. They are important. On Pesach we need to put an emphasis on the mashehu chametz, we need to get down to the nitty-gritty details, the little things, we can’t console ourselves by saying the general picture is positive. A small detail can mar the whole thing.
In other words, a person should not tell himself: Basically, I am a ben Torah. Five minutes of devarim beteilim here and there is not a big deal. So what if I say a little lashon hara sometimes. It’s not fair to be so picky about little details.
Pesach teaches us that a little detail can mess up the whole picture.
Being a Jew doesn’t mean generally acting like a Jew, generally behaving like a ben Torah, generally conducting oneself like a talmid chacham. A Jew is someone who builds his spiritual edifice on all the little details. It’s like cleaning all the corners before Pesach. A Jew needs to pay attention to the details of avodas Hashem.
