The Art of Cleaning

Spring is soon upon us, and I am doing a lot of Passover cleaning and cleansing, as it feels good, even if there is a bit of a burden having a deadline – 23 April! Before we can sit down in leisure at the seder table to celebrate the fact we came out of slavery, all of our collective cupboards and house holds need to be totally crumb-free. Passover becomes ~ cleaning our own inner ‘chametz’ ~ our own Inner crumbs, from the whole last year.

It’s a hard process, but so rewarding, as Kabbalistically the bread is a symbol of our Ego, similar to how it rises with it’s dough, we human beings can puff up our own ego to proportion that are not modest, becoming too pompous, So getting rid of those darn small crumbs, is an act of surrendering to one’s own humble self and letting go of any ideas, that ‘we are too cool and beyond anyone else’.

I often write about how we can manifest our reality with visualization and art pieces, creating an image in our mind to enrich our lives. So wondering if it would work, if I sat down meditating or sat in front of my easel instead of having to clean my whole house ~ painting a totally crumb-free house ~ would it make the crumbs go away? Kind of wish for that magic we see in Disney movies these days… but I guess I have to go through the painstaking task of total eradication of the bread realm.

In any case, it’s a good idea, not too eat too much bread anyway, as it only makes us fat and it’s full of gluten, so hey, why not get rid of it once and for all. Each year I say, I will never let anymore bread into my house, so I won’t need to do the ‘Passover cleaning dance’ ever again, but then we have that lovely thing called ‘Shabbat‘. It’s so beautiful and lovely to share & brake bread together with family and loved ones, so I guess that bread, that seam so annoying during the spring, is so Holy out through the year.

During this process, I am also letting go off things that I do not need to keep anymore, and that is so freeing. Letting go off my dear sister Miriam’s bookshelf from Sweden is also an act of saying goodbye to the past and have that piece of furniture move on to other owners. It’s 40 years since she passed and with it a big chapter ended (see pix of us eating Matza). Yesterday, while the rain poured down, it was amazing to witness two doves come to sit on my sister’s bookshelf. We had put it on the porch until it will be picked up, and these love birds are in the season of wanting to nest, looking for a great home for their future generation. Interesting as my Sister, out through her young life, worked hard for Peace in the world. So to me they may have been messengers of that classic Peace Dove.

Last year, I had the same issue, and two ‘lovey dovey’ birds sneaked in on the back porch, and nested… gave birth to few sets of eggs. Since it’s a mitzwa to do the ‘Mishloach Ha’Ken”, my friend helped me take the nest out with the eggs. It’s a blessing for longevity and for partnership… he found his soul mate, and few months ago he got married. Mazal tov!

I am attaching the video of the lovely Peace Doves that graced me a visit and also a remarkable Matza piece that I got in one of the Matza boxes for Passover few years ago. It was a Matza that was in the shape of a Peace Dove. Wow, I was so amazed, how come it was baked that way? I like to believe it was a bit of a miracle from above, or a gift from above to say, PEACE WILL COME, have FAITH J

Happy Spring Cleaning to all of us, what ever faith we may have, we all need some cleaning and cleansing.

Much love, Eva Ariela