Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Daf Yomi - Chagigah 24 - Tumah-Chometz comparisons

Learning these gemaras about one hand being tamei while the other hand is tahor, u'kidomeh, I cannot help but remember the tension of the two weeks before erev Pesach, when parts of the house were Kosher L'Pesach, while other areas were full of chometz. The tension involved in getting the children to understand those boundaries, not to mention their father, is by far my least favorite part of the entire Passover experience. In fact, Pesach becomes easy and enjoyable once everything is Pesachdik. Imagine going through all of YomTov with this half-and-half existence! I simply cannot imagine how much more tense this Tahara experience described in Chagigah must have been.

I can truly believe that the people who lived in that era were of a higher spiritual stature, if they could go through a Yom-Tov in Yerushalayim, follow these rules, and still experience Simchas Yom-Tov and come away uplifted and in one piece.

(I realize that this insight says more about me than it does about the Gemara in Chagigah.)

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