Preparing for Redemption: Finding Holiness in Everyday Life
It has been a thrilling week watching the freed hostages come home. I have so much gratitude to the Almighty for allowing us to witness this redemption.
I couldn’t help but notice that the return of the hostages happened on Hoshana Rabbah, the day that Yosef HaTzaddik is the ushpizin we invite into our sukkah on the final day of Sukkot.
Yosef was also a captive. He was taken from his home, held in a foreign land, and eventually reunited with his family.
His release from captivity brought healing, leadership, and provision to the Jewish people, yet even so, Yosef himself never left Egypt. His bones remained there until all of Israel was redeemed.
That detail feels hard to ignore right now.
Some of our people have returned home.
Others have not.
Like Yosef, they are still waiting for the final redemption, for the moment when every person, every soul, comes home.
I don’t believe our battle is over yet.
It seems to me, we just aren’t ready for redemption.
The Power of Preparation
So how can we bring redemption?
Preparation.
An article I read in this month’s Jewish Action, “The Power of Preparation” by Moishe Bane, reminded me that preparation itself is holy.
The author talks about the Jewish women in the time of the Mishkan who donated their mirrors to create the kiyor, the wash basin used by the kohanim.
Those mirrors had been used in Egypt by the women to engage their husbands and encourage them to continue growing the Jewish nation, and they were melted to form the vessel for preparation in the Mishkan.
The women understood that the preparation before a mitzvah is holy because it enables us to do the mitzvah itself, and is therefore part of the mitzvah. It shows our intentions.
Waiting until the last minute to do the mitzvah without preparation is a recipe for stress and burnout.
Take time to start now and pace yourself and save yourself hardship and stress, and truly enjoy whatever mitzvah you are doing.
Transforming Ordinary Acts into Something Sacred
Just like those women, YOU also have the power to transform ordinary acts into something sacred.
Jewish women have been managing preparations for centuries.
Our roles may look different today, but the essence has not changed.
We are still the CEOs and presidents of our families, the ones who turn vision into reality and make spiritual life tangible.
That is sacred work.
And yet, I see so many women struggling under the weight of it all. There’s too much to manage and not enough time.
The real question isn’t how much we have to do; it’s whether we’re doing the things that truly matter.
If we minimize our responsibilities, we can make space for what’s meaningful.
Decluttering as a Path to Redemption
When we declutter our homes, our schedules, and our minds, we create room for prayer, mitzvot, connection, and rest.
As we leave the chagim and enter this long stretch before Pesach (yes, we have Chanukah and Purim, but Pesach is the main event), we have a gift: time.
Time to prepare.
Time to rebuild habits.
Time to strengthen the foundations of our lives.
Between now and Pesach, our festival of redemption, we can start to clear what’s cluttered, make space for what matters, and do the quiet work that brings holiness into the everyday.
Redemption doesn’t begin on Pesach night.
It starts now, in the preparation, in the effort, and in the choices we make when no one’s watching.
Bring Order, Clarity, and Calm into Your Home
In this in-between time, let’s prepare for redemption by bringing change into our own lives.
Bringing order, clarity, and calm into our homes isn’t separate from spiritual redemption; it’s how we create it.
✨ Ready to bring redemption closer by transforming your daily life?
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Do not wait for calm to find you; create it. Start clearing your space and your mind so you can make room for peace, purpose, and spiritual strength.
Physical and spiritual redemption start with movement.