Halacha:

Pesach,  War 

Collections: R' Shvat on the Holidays

Description

All yeshivot close their doors from Rosh Chodesh Nissan, because cleaning for Pesach, like many mitzvot, is about "being religious" or G-dly, even if they don't get most of us to "feel religious". Often a sick person feels wrong when the doctor and rabbi insist that he not fast on Yom Kippur. Yes, it doesn't "feel religious" to eat on that day, but, as opposed to Christianity and the Samaritans, Judaism is based upon many G-dly actions (including saving life), many of which only activate our religious feeling upon learning the deeper or kabbalistic aspects of those mitzvot. Similarly, one of the major problems among many Haredim is their claim "we feel more religious learning in yeshiva than serving in the IDF". Nevertheless, before "feeling religious", one must first "be religious".