Pesach: Illuminate the Path

Throughout the year, the kabbalists have observed unique cosmic windows that open during these specific times. By understanding and preparing to connect with these significant moments throughout the year, we can take advantage of the energy and blessings that each of these windows brings us.

And this week, as we connect to the energy of Pesach, we receive the opportunity to break free from the things that bind us.

While it is always our intention to remove things that limit and block us, Pesach is unique in that it also offers us complete transformation. Not just through the removal of negativity but through freedom from our ego. Negativity arrives in many forms—fear, doubt, judgment, and selfishness—but its continued creation comes from our ego. When we are acting solely to receive for the self alone, we are inviting this darkness.

And if we are paying attention, we can feel when we are stuck in a cycle of ego. We feel anxious, afraid, and out of control. And we’re living in a time where many of us are in this space. It’s difficult to remain connected to something greater when everything feels so uncertain. When our well-being, and the well-being of our loved ones are threatened, we can switch into a survivalist mentality and understandably so. However, we cannot connect to the Creator when we are in a dark place.

The challenge that is before us may be something we have never faced, but it is bringing us an opportunity to create blessings in equally unprecedented ways.

On Pesach, we are given a window in time when we can repair our connection to the Light of the Creator through a transformation of our consciousness. By releasing darkness and chaos, we can step into the energy of positivity, healing, and blessings.

When we make a choice, we shift our consciousness. Our awareness is like a floodlight, illuminating whatever it is we choose to focus it on. If we shine our light on everything that is wrong, that’s all that we will see. If we shine it on what is good and what is possible, that will become our reality. On Pesach, we not only get to illuminate the good, but we also get to expand and amplify it.

There are physical tools associated with Pesach, such as Matzah (unleavened bread), wine, and the seder. These tools are part of a code that we use to remove ourselves from negativity. Kabbalists explain that the Light is so unnaturally abundant on the first day of Pesach that any negativity that we have attached ourselves to is dissolved. The consequences of jealousy, negative words, and actions from the past year have the chance to be wiped away.

The world is in need of this connection now more than ever. We are not only removing negativity for ourselves; we are helping to heal the world through the power of our connection. Imagine what can be removed and cleansed this year, as we rise above the current circumstances, and connect to Pesach.

It is a tall order, to be sure. There are the skeptical voices in our minds that challenge whether such a connection could be made, about whether we could really be free of our past—or current—negativity through happiness and the tools of Pesach.

When I feel the voice of skepticism, I am instantly reminded of one of my favorite quotes from Rav Berg: “If you think what you are doing is not important, then it is not important.” It reminds me that my consciousness is important, it matters. This is true for you as well.

There are many reminders of our inherent power during Pesach, and they all serve to empower us to create the world we want to live in. To be the change we wish to see. In a time where the world is unlike it has ever been and fear, doubt, and uncertainty are at an all-time high, the power to transform ourselves through our consciousness is not only our opportunity—it is also our responsibility.

We can’t wait for the Creator to change our circumstances. It is also not the Creator’s job to change our nature—it is all up to us. We have to change, and like our shadow, the Creator will behave in the same way that we do. As we give up our survivalist mentality, we release any desire to receive for ourselves alone. When we do, we become an extension of the Creator, and we bring healing, joy, and blessings down to the world through our being.

As you observe this holy day, ask how you can be transformed. In what ways would you need to transform your consciousness in order to be a miracle in your own life? In the lives of your loved ones? In the lives of every human on Earth?

How can your consciousness light the way?