The Promise of the Struggle
Tech Tribe Dispatch #297
💡 Think:
There seems to be a rule in life: When you commit to doing something good, something meaningful - you’re trying to do the right thing - suddenly that’s when it get difficult.
And one can ask: ‘Where’s the justice in that?’
There’s a fascinating rule discussed in this week’s Torah portion which, when unpacked, sheds light on overcoming these challenges.
In unpacking the complex laws of ritual purity and impurity, Maimonides extrapolates three rules for how fruits and vegetables can become ritually unfit.
[Only] foods that are designated for human consumption… are [naturally] susceptible to ritual impurity. All foods that are not designated for human consumption are pure and are not susceptible to ritual impurity unless [specific conditions are met]
No foods are susceptible to ritual impurity unless it was first dampened with one of the seven liquids. [and is derived from this weeks] Torah portion
All foods that grow from the earth are not susceptible to ritual impurity until they are uprooted from the ground. As long as they are connected to the earth - even by a small root, as long as they can sustain themselves from it - they are not susceptible to impurity
There’s a lot to unpack in these laws - which combine the legalistic and mystically profound - but a clear lesson for life can be unpacked:
Our mission in life is to imbue the world with meaning - to elevate the mundane into transcendent realm of the divine. Food that is fit to eat, is fit to elevate. In a larger sense, all mundane things that we channel for the good become ‘food fit to eat fueling our work of repairing all that is broken in this world. And the liquid is the vivacity, the living waters, that enrich each deed done.
That’s our first rule - the dross materiality of this world, unrefined and unchanneled, lumbers about its existence without attracting any negative responses. Submerge yourself in it, in vapidness, and you’ll receive little pushback.
But if you involve yourself in something good, something righteous, something redemptive and fit… you immerse yourself in it with a vivacity - that’s when the challenge begins.
That’s our challenge at the top of this email. And thus a person could rightfully ask: Where’s the justice in all of this?
That’s the second answer - like the fruit that grows from the land, so long as it remains connected by even the smallest root, no impurity will befall it. If you’re connected to your source, if you root yourself in your goodness… even if it is with the smallest tendril of a root - you will transcend the impurity - the negativity and distractions of this world.
🏃 DO:
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🔥 Lit:
This week, light Shabbat candles in NYC at 7:28 PM
For Shabbat candle-lighting time in your area click here.
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