What Does Bitachon Have To Do With Pesach Cleaning?

Proper Bitachon regarding mitzvah performance

The Chovos Halevavos (Duties of the Heart) teaches us that there are 3 components to doing a mitzvah:

1. Choosing what is right
   This involves the evaluation process: what is the right thing to do?
2. Deciding to do it
   Now that I have ascertained the correct course of action, I must choose to do it.
3. Doing it
   This refers to physically carrying out the task.

Two out of three parts are completely in my control: I have the ability to identify what is right and to decide to do it. However, the third aspect, carrying through with the action, is not completely in my hands.

Let's take an example:

Moishy knows that he should get up to go to shul every morning for Shacharis (#1). Even though he really likes to sleep late, he decides that he will wake up early to go to shul anyway (#2). He sets his alarm for 6:30 AM, and dutifully gets up to go to shul every morning for Shacharis (#3).

So far so good. Moishy reflected on the right thing to do, decided to do it, and carried through with action.

Now let's modify our example a bit to illustrate how the third aspect might be beyond Moishy's control:

Moishy knows that he should get up to go to shul every morning for Shacharis (#1). Even though he really likes to sleep late, he decides that he will wake up early to go to shul anyway (#2). He sets his alarm for 6:30 AM, and dutifully gets up to go to shul every morning for Shacharis (#3).

One night, there is a power outage while Moishy is sleeping. He has no idea that his clock began blinking 12:00 and his alarm is no longer set! Moishy wakes up half an hour late, and misses Shacharis.

Moishy had the correct intentions (#1 and #2), but was unable to perform the mitzvah(#3). He was not lazy or negligent; for whatever reason, Hashem prevented him from attending Shacharis that morning.

This is where Bitachon comes into play. We investigate the options, choose the right path and put forth proper effort. But whether we ultimately succeed in completing the mitzvah is really in Hashem's Hands, not our own.

Back to Pesach

In the days and weeks leading up to Pesach, we spend hours and hours cleaning and removing chometz from our homes. Yet occasionally it happens that chometz appears in our homes on Pesach, usually from some location that we never thought might house food.

(This is especially true of homes with little children. Stories abound of Cheerios flying out of air conditioners or children hiding chometz to feed their dolls over Pesach!)

Does this mean that all the cleaning was for naught? After all, if there may be chometz anyway, why bother to clean?

No matter what the end result, Hashem always rewards us for trying (#1 and #2). We just have to do our part, and the rest is in Hashem's control.

This can be compared to getting an education. Have you ever heard anyone say, "I won't bother getting a degree because I might end up unemployed anyway"? Of course not. We all try to do whatever should help us to achieve our goals. What we actually achieve, though, is up to Hashem.

Besides, as funny as the stories might sometimes be, they are really not as commonplace as it seems. Most families really do have the kosher Pesach they were aiming for!

Wishing you a Chag Kasher V'Sameach - a Happy and Kosher Holiday!