LEV916 Rest on the first day of Pesach. Our minds should be free to reflect upon the miracle that occurred at that time. Thereby, we are better able to feel gratitude to Hashem and praise Him for the miracles that He performed for us and for the commandment that He gave us concerning the holiday. If we were to be occupied with melachah on this day, our minds would not be free to think of anything else.

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LEV917 Desist from prohibited work on the first day of Pesach. Key concepts: So that the Jewish nation will have time to recall and speak of the great miracles that Hashem performed for them and their forefathers, and teach our children and grandchildren about the miracles. Were we allowed to do melachah on this holy day, even light work, everyone would occupy himself with his work, causing the honor of the holiday to be forgotten from adults and children, for no one would speak of it. Many additional benefits accrue to us from desisting from melachah on the holiday. Congregations throughout the nation gather in their synagogues and houses of Torah study, where they hear words of Torah. Their Rabbis provide them with guidance and teach wisdom and understanding.

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LEV918 Bring an additional offering all seven days of Pesach. Key concepts: Man is influenced by his actions, for he is a physical being, so his thoughts and ideals, too, are not solidified except through actions. Therefore, each day of Pesach, Hashem commands us to perform a special action in honor of the holiday. By bringing an additional offering, we take to heart the holiday's greatness and holiness, and recall the miracles and kindnesses that Hashem bestowed upon us at this time.

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LEV920 Bring the omer offering of barley. We should reflect upon the great kindness that Hashem does for His creations by providing them new crops of grain for food every year. Before we take benefit from the new grain, it is fitting that we bring it an offering to Hashem, so that we recall His exceeding goodness and kindness. Through the act of bringing the offering with the proper thoughts, Hashem will consider us worthy and will bless us and our grain because He desires our wellbeing and wants to bestow good upon us. As to the reason that the barley offering is brought on the second day of Pesach not the first, we do not mix one joy with another. The first day of Pesach is for happily recalling the great miracles that Hashem did for us when He took us out of Egypt, delivering us from bondage into freedom and from suffering into joy

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LEV921 Count the omer. The distinguishing feature of the Jewish nation is that Hashem gave His Torah only to us. The heavens and the earth were created only for the sake of the Torah, and Hashem redeemed us from Egypt mainly so that we would accept His Torah at Mount Sinai and fulfill all of its commandments. The Torah is our greatest blessing and most precious possession. True, Hashem took us out of Egypt and freed us from slavery, but most important of all He gave us His Torah. Since the Torah is our nation's essence and livelihood, and because of it we were redeemed and elevated to lofty heights, we are commanded to count the days between Pesach and the day that the Torah was given. Thereby, we reveal our great desire to reach that important and honored day. We are similar to a slave who counts the days until he will be freed. By counting the days until the Giving of the Torah, we show how dearly we value the Torah and anticipate receiving it. The reason that we started counting on the second day of Pesach and not the first is because the first day of Pesach is exclusively for remembering the miracles of the Exodus. Those miracles demonstrated that the world has a Maker Who manages its affairs constantly, supervising all that transpires. This important idea should not be mixed with the additional important idea that the Creator of the World gave us His Torah. As our Sages say, “We do not mix one joy with another joy.” as to why the mitzvah is called, “The Counting of the Omer,” the omer is an esteemed offering brought on the first day of the counting. Inherent in the offering is the message that as Hashem cares for mankind and seeks our blessing, He gives us new crops of grain every year for our sustenance.

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LEV922 Bring a new wheat offering on Shavuos. On Shavous bring an offering of two loaves of bread made from flour of the new crop of wheat. This is the first offering from the new crop of wheat. Accordingly, it is called a “new” grain offering. As to why this wheat offering is baked bread, while the barley offering is only flour, wheat is a staple of the human diet, while barley is primarily animal food. Therefore, it is fitting that the first offering from the new wheat crop be in the form of wheat that most benefits mankind--baked bread. Since people’s thoughts about any given matter are awakened by means of their actions regarding the matter, we bring baked bread as the offering, for wheat in this form is of primary importance for us. Appreciating that bread as our primary form of sustenance, we appreciate the significance of the offering.

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LEV926 Desist from prohibited melachah on Rosh Hashanah. One of Hashem's kind acts is that once a year He reviews the deeds of each human being and on that basis issues a decree. Thereby, a person's sins do not accumulate to too great a degree and he can attain atonement. Since a person's sins over the course of only one year are relatively few in number, Hashem forgives and grants atonement for them. If grave sins have been committed so the guilty parties need purification, He extracts payment little by little. Were Hashem to wait and take the accounting of our sins only after a long period of time, our sins would accumulate to such a degree that the world would almost need to be destroyed, God forbid. It turns out that this special day--Rosh Hashanah, Judgment Day--is necessary so that the world can continue to exist. For this reason, it is fitting that it be a holiday. On the other hand, since it is Judgment Day for all creations, there should be more of a feeling of fear and trepidation, relative to the other holidays of the year. An illusion to this idea is found in the sound of the shofar, for the broken, shrill shofar blows instill fear in us and shake us to break our evil inclination, so that we will regret and repent from our sins.

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LEV927 Fast on the Tenth of Tishrei. One of Hashem's kind acts is that He sets aside one special day of the year when His creations can readily receive atonement for their sins if they repent for them. Therefore, on that day we are commanded to fast, because food, drink and other physical pleasures awaken the physical aspect of our beings to follow after mundane desires and be drawn to sin. Indulging in physical pleasures stops our intelligent soul from searching for truth—i.e., service of Hashem and the ethical teachings that are sweet to any intelligent being. On a day of judgment, it is inappropriate for a servant to appear before his Master with a soul darkened and polluted by thoughts of the physical due to indulgence in food and drink, for the servant is judged according to his deeds at that time. Rather, on this day, it behooves him to give prominence to his intelligent soul, subduing his physical side, letting his soul come forward and be worthy of atonement, without physical desires constituting an obstacle.

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LEV932 The mitzvah of taking a lulav on Sukkos. A person is most strongly influenced by the actions that he does on a regular basis. If his actions are virtuous, his thoughts will be the same. Since Hashem wants to bestow merit on His nation, He gives us many mitzvos, so that we are fulfilling His Will at all times and our thoughts and souls are constantly turned to good and virtue. Included in the mitzvos that Hashem commands us to help us to focus our thoughts on serving Him in purity, is the mitzvah of tefillin. They are worn next to the heart and brain, and when putting them on every day we dedicate our hearts and minds to His service. Thus, we are helped to remember and be sure that all day long we weigh our every deed according to the scales of justice and truth. This is the key concept of the Four Species. Sukkos is a time of great joy for the Jewish nation, for it is the time for bringing in our harvest of grain and fruits. Therefore, Hashem commands us to celebrate a festival at this time so that the primary joy in our hearts is in His Blessed Honor. Reaping one’s harvest tends to lead a person towards materialism and the joy at harvest time therefore can lead us to forget fear of God. Therefore, He commands us that on Sukkos we take in hand visible reminders that all of our joy is in His Blessed Honor. He commands us to take these four species because there these are species that give joy to all who see them. Another concept of the mitzvah is that the four species allude to four primary components of the human body. The esrog alludes to the heart--where human intelligence resides. By taking an esrog in hand on Sukkos, we are taught that in order to serve our Maker properly, we must use our intelligence. The lulav alludes to the spinal cord, which has central importance for all that we do, and taking it in hand teaches us to bring all of limbs in line with Hashem's Will. The hadas is shaped like the human eye, and we take it in hand on Sukkos in order to impress upon ourselves that during joyful days we must be particularly careful to not stray after our eyes. The willow leaf is shaped like our lips, which we use for speech, and taking it in hand teaches us to consider our words carefully so that we say nothing improper, for even during times of joy we must retain our fear of God. As to waiving the four species in all six directions, this serves to remind us that everything is from Hashem--what is above, what is below, and whatever is found in the north, south, east or west. This is how these matters appear according to the simple understanding. The cap Kabbalists expound many wondrous and more profound explanations for the mitzvah of the Four Species.

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LEV936 Dwell in a sukkah for the seven days of Sukkos. In order to recall the great miracles that Hashem performed for our forefathers in the desert when He took them out of Egypt. He surrounded them with the Clouds of Glory, so that the hot sun would not harm them during the day, nor the cold during the night. Some explained that our forefathers built their own huts in the desert, and we, too, build such temporary structures and dwell in them on Sukkos. Through remembering the great wonders that Hashem did for our forefathers and continues to do for us, we are careful to keep His mitzvos. Thereby, we become worthy to receive His blessings, which pleases Him, for He desires to bestow of His Good upon us.

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