Hachanah breeds kavannah. Hachanah causes a person to be present. When a person comes to a mitzvah unprepared, his mind will be in a million places. Therefore, a person must sit down and meditate on what he is about to do. One should take five minutes before davening Minchah to meditate on what he is about to do and to daven for success in this.
In fact, the tzaddikim arranged the words of the Mishnah thus: Early chassidim would pause for an hour before they would begin to daven, ומתפללים אחת שעה שוהין! They would utilize their meditation time to daven for success in the mitzvah they were about to carry out! Tefillah is very much a part of this preparation.
How Do They Work Together?
Thus, we have a seeming contradiction here. On the one hand, we have tirdos and hassles that often precede a mitzvah or an otherwise exalted time—which seemingly rob a person of the presence of mind he needs to absorb the aura and the essence of the mitzvah.
On the other hand, these very hassles and preparations constitute our hachanah for the mitzvah! They’re meant to assist the person in getting into the mode of the mitzvah—for his heart and mind to be present during the mitzvah.
Of course, it would theoretically be wonderful if we could prepare for Yom Tov solely by learning chassidishe sefarim. In fact, among chassidim of yore (who were largely poor and didn’t have much to make Yom Tov with in any case), they would ask each other, “So where are you holding with your Yom Tov preparation?” To which the second Yid would answer, “In Kedushas Levi, I’m holding at this page, and in Shulchan Aruch, I’m up to this siman.”
But, practically speaking, if we were all to approach Yom Tov this way, we’d be left without matzos for Pesach, and we would enter into serious questions of having chametz on Pesach. The Ribbono shel Olam has clearly commanded us to prepare for Yom Tov by doing practical and material things.
The Contradiction Between the Two Avodahs
Thus, we are left with a very interesting situation. We have the concept that a hachanah for a mitzvah prepares a person to be present when doing the mitzvah, while at the same time we see that these very preparations tend to rob a person of the yishuv hada’as that he needs for that very presence.
How can we reconcile this reality? How can we ensure that we will enjoy the upcoming Yom Tov in practice? We’re about to welcome the Yom Tov Pesach. We waited an entire year for this. It would be a terrible shame to lose out on the spirituality of the Yom Tov. Let us ensure that we will be there to enjoy it for everything that it offers us.
Connecting to the Essence of Our Actions
The Ribbono shel Olam Wants Your Inner Thought
The simple answer to this question pertains not only to the sugya of pre-Yom Tov hassles; it is one of the greatest principles and yesodos in Yiddishkeit in general!
The answer is that the Ribbono shel Olam commanded us that when we learn Torah or perform mitzvos, we should connect to the inner essence of what we are learning and doing. In everything—in the Torah learning or in the mitzvos that we do—we are commanded connect to its essence, and not to follow the yetzer hara, who wishes for him to be involved in it only on a superficial level.
This is the great commandment that lies at the heart of every aspect of avodas Hashem! And it is especially pertinent when it comes to the avodah of preparing for Yom Tov or for a mitzvah.
The Avodah of Meditation
When a person learns sefarim hakedoshim before a Yom Tov, he thereby connects with the essence of what the Ribbono shel Olam wants him to derive from this Yom Tov. He has prepared his heart and mind for the upcoming Yom Tov: A Yom Tov of Pesach is coming up—a time when the Ribbono shel Olam took us out of Mitzrayim and demonstrated that He runs the world. Then, when the Yom Tov finally arrives, the heart and mind are open to receiving that aura of emunah, a clarity in emunah, and a strengthening in emunah. He has connected to the essence of the Yom Tov.
When this person consumes the matzah, he will have in mind the essence of the mitzvah of matzah—beyond the technicalities of the size of the matzah and the speed with which it must be eaten. These things are crucial, of course; a Yid must fulfill every aspect as stated in the Shulchan Aruch. But this Yid is primarily consumed with connecting to the essence of the mitzvah that he’s doing.
Having in Mind the Essence Connects Us to Hashem
There are many levels to the pnimiyus of a mitzvah. But we’re referring to the simple meaning behind a mitzvah that the Ribbono shel Olam writes explicitly in the Torah—as this is what He wants us to think about this as we execute the mitzvah: “I took you out of Mitzrayim, and I saved your soul. Now you have been instilled with incredible kochos because you’re no longer under the kelipah. Even right now, you have the power of freedom! When you carry out these practical mitzvos, I want you to think about the depth behind these mitzvos.”
Indeed, having in mind the reason for a mitzvah isn’t מעכב by most mitzvos. The Bach tells us that only regarding three mitzvos is the kavannah of the reason מעכב; because the Torah tells us they are in order that you should remember (tzitzis) or in order than you should know (Sukkah). And thus, one is obligated to know the reason for the mitzvah.
However, when a Yid thinks about the reason for a mitzvah and the meaning behind it, he attains an incredible connection to the Ribbono shel Olam: The Ribbono shel Olam commanded me to do this, and I am now carrying out His command. If one doesn’t do so, he hinders his growth in the kirvas Elokim that he could attain through Torah and mitzvos. The more we insist on thought and meditation in mitzvos, the closer we will thereby become to the Aibishter.
The Greatness of a Commandment
The Sfas Emes says in the name of his grandfather, the Chiddushei Harim, regarding the children of Aharon HaKohen who lost their lives as they brought ketores in the Mishkan: The pasuk says, צוה לא אשר זרה אש ’ה לפני ויקריבו אותם, and they brought before Hashem an alien fire that He had not commanded them (Vayikra 10:1). Explained the Chiddushei Harim, in every mitzvah that we’re commanded to do lies a chiyus, an animating force, from the commandment of Hashem. When we carry out the command of the Ribbono shel Olam, we become His emissaries to fulfill His wishes. This gives a Yid the chiyus to carry out the mitzvah.
The problem of Nadav and Avihu, explains the Gerrer Rebbe, was that they lacked the command of Hashem. It was אותם צוה לא אשר, and this is why they were consumed and were taken from This World. The actual act that they did was great and holy—they brought ketores, which is a tremendous avodah—but they were unable to connect to the essence of the mitzvah, to the ratzon Hashem, because there was no command for them to bring it.
The Chiyus We Can Draw from the Essence
On a practical level, connecting with the essence of a mitzvah entails having in mind the following: “What am I about to do?! I am going to do something now—not because I have the desire to do it, but because I want to be a loyal servant to the Ribbono shel Olam and His Torah. The Aibishter commanded me, and therefore I will do it.” Nadav and Avihu lacked this, as we have noted.
Concludes the Sfas Emes: We see from here that when a Yid fulfills a mitzvah that the Ribbono shel Olam commanded him to do, he can attain tremendous chiyus from the command of Hashem.
If people can be taken from the world because there was no command, then we can surely be given life and kirvas Elokim when we meditate upon the fact that we’re carrying out the ratzon Hashem. This alone can give us the primary chiyus, as we think about the essence of the mitzvah.
Fusing the Spiritual Hachanah with the Technical Preparation
Now let us return to the hachanos of Yom Tov. It’s clear that when a person works to connect with the essence of the Yom Tov... he learns sifrei Maharal for Pesach... he meditates on the concepts and ideas of the Yom Tov... he learns the halachos of Pesach and the mesechtos about Pesach—this brings him into a matzav of Pesach. There is no question about it.
But, at the same time, we must know that the Ribbono shel Olam commanded us to engage in practical preparations as a hachanah to Shabbos and Yom Tov. And it is here that the yetzer hara catches a person... robbing him of his presence of mind as he goes about these preparations. The Ba’al Davar will do everything to ensure that a person doesn’t remember that “I am now preparing for Yom Tov! I am now fulfilling a mitzvah d’Oraisa of ridding my home of chametz! I am now fulfilling the ratzon Hashem!”
When We Lack Pnimiyus, We Become Stressed
If a person doesn’t meditate this way, he not only remains dry, he also becomes stressed and upset—as we see often that people become upset during these times. The reason for this is that these people are connected only to the external aspects of the mitzvah. They are now disconnected from the Ribbono shel Olam.
It’s lamentable that some people think of this time of Pesach preparation as spring cleaning. The home must be organized once a year in any case, they say. But with this way of thinking they lose the entire “neshamah” of the mitzvah, and they can thus become becomes nervous and stressed—because they left the Ribbono shel Olam out of their hachanah.
It’s ironic that as we’re engaged in a mitzvah, we would abandon the Ribbono shel Olam. But this is what sadly happens so often.
Apply Your Heart and Mind
Sometimes, people think about the clothing that they purchased for Yom Tov, whether they got it for a good price, etc.—their minds are 100 percent occupied with things that have nothing to do with the Ribbono shel Olam. And it is all ostensibly “l’kavod Yom Tov.” Such a person hasn’t departed from the Shulchan Aruch, which exhorts us to purchase new clothing for ourselves and our family for Yom Tov. He did what he was supposed to! But he is lacking the neshamah, and it’s truly a shame!
It’s a shame, because there’s so much enjoyment to be derived from a Yom Tov—and sometimes we deprive ourselves of this enjoyment when we go through the motions without thinking about the pnimiyus, the essence.
A Yid must constantly be present in what he’s doing and remember that he’s making a hachanah for the holy Yom Tov. This Yid does everything his wife asks him to do, he goes and he comes, he brings and he takes, and he takes care of everything he has to—but at the same time, he constantly remembers that he’s now preparing for Yom Tov. He knows that this is the ratzon Hashem.
So Many Mitzvos While Sitting in Traffic
Just as we know that by eating one tiny insect, R”l, one transgresses five or six aveiros, on the positive side, one can fulfill numerous great mitzvos by making his Yom Tov preparations!
As a person sits in heavy traffic in the lead-up to Yom Tov to make Yom Tov purchases and help his wife for Yom Tov, he may be fulfilling three or four mitzvos d’Oraisa! The first is that he is באהבה יסורים מקבל. He is also engaged in chessed! He is engaged in making a hachanah for a mitzvah! He is exhibiting rachmanus! This person has a list of mitzvos that he’s fulfilling, but if he isn’t connected to the essence, he becomes frazzled, nervous, and stressed.
As one goes about his Yom Tov preparations, a Yid should always remember two things: Which mitzvah I am doing, and why I am doing it. If we work to keep our mind about us, focused on these thoughts, then when Yom Tov arrives, we will feel so elevated and warmed—davka due to our hachanah that we have engaged in.
Great Tzaddikim Engaged in Shabbos Preparations
The Gemara teaches us that the great Amoraim invested in Shabbos preparations. Of course, they were davuk in Hashem with a great deveikus all the while.
The tzaddikim of later generations were the same. The Rebbe Reb Elimelech, and others, would come into the kitchen on Erev Shabbos to salt the fish and engage in other preparations. As they did so, they had special kavannos, meditating on the pnimiyus of the great avodah in which they were engaged.
It’s the Thought That Counts
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.
