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Pesach - Freedom From the Bug in Our Brain

 

The Gemara in Masechet Megillah (6b) discusses the situation of a Jewish leap year, when there are two months of Adar.  According to the accepted opinion, in such a year, the holiday of Purim is celebrated during the second Adar.  The Gemara explains: מסמך גאולה לגאולה עדיף – we want to juxtapose the "redemption" of Purim with the "redemption" of Pesach.

 

Apparently, there is some connection between the celebration of Purim and the celebration of Pesach.

 

Perhaps we can explain this connection based on a story told elsewhere in the Gemara (Gittin 56) about one of the worst enemies of the Jewish People – the wicked Roman general Titus, who destroyed the second Bet Ha'mikdash.

 

The Gemara relates that sometime after he destroyed the Bet Ha'mikdash, Titus arrived at a certain place and a tiny gnat flew into his nostril, and lodged itself in his brain.  It started pecking inside Titus' head, causing him unbearable pain.  He was able to temporarily relieve himself of this pain by having a blacksmith bang with his anvil, as the noise disrupted the gnat, making it stop pecking.  Soon thereafter, however, the gnat grew accustomed to this noise, and resumed its pecking.  For seven years, Titus suffered from the incessant pecking, until he finally died.  The Gemara concludes that Titus' head was opened after his passing, and it was discovered that the gnat was the size of a very large bird.

 

This story might seem strange and esoteric – but when we probe a bit deeper, we find that it describes something that each and every one of us suffers from.

 

A little "gnat" enters our brain, and it grows – making us so uncomfortable that we can't function. 

 

That "gnat" can be a family member who doesn't treat us the way we think he should.  A competitor who is taking away customers.  Something our spouse does or doesn't do that drives us crazy.  At any time, we have at least one "little bug" in our brain, someone or something that we allow to live there rent-free. 

 

Even worse, we allow this "bug" to grow, and to grow, and to grow some more.  We turn this annoyance into a far more serious problem than it really is.  And, like the overgrown gnat inside Titus' head, it "pecks" and knocks at our brains, preventing us from thinking straight, not to mention from experiencing happiness and contentment.  We turn this small problem into a huge problem, one which allows us no rest.

 

There is perhaps no clearer example of this phenomenon than Haman.

 

Haman had all the fame and wealth that anybody could ever dream of.  And yet, he turned to his family and said, וכל זה איננו שווה לי – none of his fame and wealth was worth it.  None of it made him happy.  Why?  Because of Mordechai.  Because of that one Jewish guy who refused to bow.

 

Mordechai's refusal to bow was a tiny, insignificant "gnat," an annoyance that, rationally, should pale in comparison with all the prestige that Haman enjoyed.  But he invited Mordechai to live rent-free in his brain, and he allowed this "bug" to grow and grow.  So much so, that Haman could not enjoy anything in his life.  He was consumed by resentment toward this one guy.

 

Maybe this explains the connection between Purim and Pesach.

 

Pesach is the holiday of freedom, when we are to focus on the process of extricating ourselves from that which enslaves us.  In our time, the most common form of "slavery" is the slavery of obsession, the "bugs" that we allow to take over our brains and control our lives.  We enjoy countless blessings that people just a century ago longed for.  And yet, so many people today cannot experience happiness, they lack the freedom to feel content and fulfilled, because of the "tyrant" inside their brains, because they are subjugated to some person or some annoyance.

 

As we prepare for Pesach, let us all strive to free ourselves from the "bugs" in our brain.  Let us stop allowing the insignificant annoyances to control us.  Let us give ourselves the gift of freedom by refusing to turn small problems into big problems, by appreciating and enjoying all the wonderful blessings in our lives without letting them get ruined by the little things that come up along the way. - Joey Haber

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https://itorah.com/weekly-inspire/freedom-from-the-bug-in-our-brain/15/31145