Last night, Rabbi Moshe Landau passed away at the age of 83. He was the Rabbi of the city of Bnei Brak, one of the greatest Kashrut experts in the world (they say that he was one of the few who knew Coca-Cola's secret formula, since he granted a Kosher certificate to this product, among others).
Tonight I found a shiur of his about the preparations for Pesach, and I thought that I would probably find in it many instructions about Kashrut and cleaning for the holiday. But Rabbi Landa started with another kind of preparation. Here is what we should do, according to him, precisely these days:
The month of Nisan is a month of preparation, a month of work. The important part of the work is to change, to turn from being 'slaves of Pharaoh' to being servants of HaShem. Pharaoh is the Evil Inclination. It is everything that enslaves us. Our work is to break free from it. In Hassidism they say that the general redemption needs a prelude of a personal redemption of each and every person. That is, every one should prepare oneself, to be redeemed from all the elements that hinder his life. This is our work now: to prepare, to arrive at Leil HaSeder ready, with the proper emotions.
In his memory.
