I’ve often tried to imagine
Put myself into the scene
Would I have had the courage,
The strength to… rebel, to be seen?
Leading an innocent lamb
The G-d of the Mitzri nation
Through the streets before their eyes,
Would I have such gumption?!
Would I have had the ability
To listen, hear and heed
The words of Moshe Rabbeinu?
Would I have given his words any creed?
Or would I have been among those
So sunk in the surrounding culture
That I would have stayed right there,
Duped by the glitter, the allure?
Then I put myself in the here and now
In the challenges I face day to day
In the difficulty I find in changing myself
To bow my head and to obey…
To let the speeches, the words of Torah
Sink in, penetrate and effect change
Can I? Do I disregard
The worry that others will think I am strange?
While preparing for this Yom Tov
A Pesach that is chometz-free
I try to imagine the coming of Moshiach
And how it would relate to me!
I like to imagine hearing the news
And running to dress in my chasuna best
I like to imagine flying through the streets
To greet Moshiach with all the rest!
But there is a niggling worry
That I might wait to check if it’s true
And look over my shoulder to make sure
That everyone else is coming too.
That I will be among those people
Who will just wait patiently
To see what “everyone else” is doing
Worried that they shouldn’t think I’m crazy!
It really all boils down
To asking, “Who am I?” truthfully
Am I a “puffed up piece of chometz”
Full of “what everyone thinks of me?”
Or can I scrub myself clean
And reduce myself to a flat piece of matzah
Internalizing and crystallizing
That everything is about Hashem and His Torah?
The question is a hard one
That plagues me with no end
While I prepare for Pesach
Davening that the Geulah Hashem should send!
I daven that every one of us
Will have the strength to leave all behind
To join Moshiach and heed the word of Hashem…
With joy, full hearts and minds!
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 31 Special Pesach.
