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When is Pesach this year? (Answer: 19-27 of April 2019).
When is the first Seder? (Friday evening, 19 of April 2019).
Wow, it comes out quite late this year!
Indeed, last year Pesach was particularly early and this year it's late. This is because this year 5779, we had 2 months of Adar, which "pushed back" the holiday to where it belongs, in the spring.
Why does Pesach always fall in the spring? First, it's written in the Bible. That's a good enough reason, no? :-) The primary reason is that the Jews left Egypt in the spring, so we should also celebrate it in the spring.
But there is always a more profound reason to everything we do.
Pesach celebrates the birth of the Jewish nation. It is certainly fit to fall in the season of the renewal and the rebirth of nature after the winter sleep. But it also gives a message of hope and endurance to the Jewish people. During our long history, there have been seasons of joy and seasons of despair, seasons of glory and seasons of exile, seasons of helplessness and seasons of consolation. The fact that our nation was born during the spring reminds us that no matter how powerful the winter is, spring always come and nature blooms again. No matter the sorrow that befall our people, we rise again and continue our mission in the world: transform it into a better place through Torah and Mitsvot.
Good luck with the Pesach preparations (it's not too early to start cleaning the house, planning the menu, sending invitations.... more on this next week!)
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Mendel and Nehama Hendel