A large portion of this week's Torah portion Shemini is dedicated to laws that were given to "differentiate between the impure and the pure." These include many of the Kosher laws, but also the laws of ritual impurity. We'll take a closer look at the laws of impurity of food and the lesson we can learn from them.
The law is that in order for food to become tameh, impure, it has to fulfill several conditions:
1) Only food fit for human consumption, ma'achal adam, can become impure;
2) Before the food comes into contact with the impure object that is giving over its impurity, it has to have been in contact with water (or certain other liquids). This contact must have been after the food was disconnected from its life source; i.e., after plants are cut or after animals die; and
3) The food has to be completely disconnected. If a plant still has one little root in the ground that might keep it alive, it cannot become impure.
Hashem created, and constantly sustains, the heavens and the earth. He created a world with good and evil, life and death. Since the creator of it all is Hashem, they all must have a purpose. The purpose of evil is to be a challenge and sometimes to serve as a reminder to bring us back to the right path. Life and everything else associated with good is obviously more important in this world. G-dliness, purity and good is life. Evil, sin and bad is death. Since the good is more important it receives a stronger 'life force' from above. Impure forces, on the other hand, have to suffice with very little.
A beggar once explained why he was relocating his ?work? territory from the subway trains to the casinos in Las Vegas. Instead of collecting nickels and dimes for many hours every day, he would wait for a lucky gambler to make a few thousand and then ask for fifty dollars in one shot. Similarly, impure powers tend to attach themselves to sources of great positive powers in order to suck more energy.
Every night when we go to sleep our soul goes up to heaven. Only a small part of our life force remains in the body. At that time, evil forces (which we don't physically feel, but which do bother us on a spiritual level) stick to us. When the soul returns most of it gets pushed away. Only part of it remains. For that reason we have to wash our hands first thing in the morning before we touch anything.
Now let's take a look at the different conditions needed to render something impure. The first condition was that it needs to be food fit for human consumption, ma'achal adam. ?Food? refers to all our physical needs.
"Man was created in the image of Hashem." There are several ways of saying ?man? in Hebrew. When the term adam is used, it is to stress the part of man that is Adame le'elyon, the part which resembles Hashem. When we use physical objects to serve G-d, we use them as food for our adam part, our soul. They become food for the "Adam who sits on the chair"- Hashem, the way he is described by the prophet Yechezkel.
Only food fit for human consumption can become impure. Only when there is G-dliness involved, is there is a chance that impure forces will be attracted to the food.
The second condition: the food has to be touched by water. Some of the characteristics of water: Water flows from high to low, from the mountains to the rivers, to the sea; in the body, water delivers the different energies derived from food and air to their right address; water makes things stick together (think of making a dough).
One can do all the mitzvot in a ?dry? way, just going through the motions without enthusiasm. It would be better to add some ?water?. Just like water goes down to lower levels, so, too, should we reach out to people who, at this point, seem to be lower than us in their observance of the Torah. We should travel around the different parts of the body - to which the Jewish people as a whole is compared - and teach everyone on his or her level. By doing that, ultimately we will have people ?sticking around us? who will start to follow our way of life, the ways of Torah.
Impure forces don't get too excited about ?dry? Jews. The active ones who bring holiness into this world have the biggest chance of coming into contact with impurity.
Now one may ask, if being good, and especially helping others to be good, attracts impurity, shouldn't it be better to keep low profile? At least then there is a smaller chance to become impure.
The third condition gives the solution to that problem. As long as there is a little root connected to the original life source, there is no possibility of impurity. Even contact with water, which is not impure by itself, but only makes it possible for the item to become impure when it gets into contact with an impure object, has no effect.
Our neshama (soul) is a ?part of G-d?, which doesn't get affected by any impurity.
There is one thing one is allowed to do before washing his hands in the morning: say the Modeh Ani prayer. This prayer (?I thankfully acknowledge You?) goes straight from the essence of the Jew to his Creator and cannot be contaminated by anything. This is the core of the neshama that always stays connected with Hashem. This is what made the secular Jews who were asked to convert by the Spanish Inquisition jump into the fire with cries of Shema Yisrael on their lips. This is what made people march to their deaths in the gas chambers singing Ani Ma'amin, I Believe.
We can have food fit for human consumption after it was touched by water, but as long as it is still connected to its source that doesn't matter. We can eat and sleep to derive strength to serve Hashem and we can be involved in outreach in an impure environment, but as long as we constantly remember that we do this because we are here to serve Hashem, and not for side motives, there is no problem. One can study Torah to impress others with his wisdom and open an outreach center to get his picture in the local newspaper. That is contaminated food. Torah has to be studied and mitzvot have to be fulfilled, because that is Hashem's will.
When we keep that in mind, when we stay in touch with our neshama, our part of G-d, we can keep our ?food? pure. The halacha is that even one little root is enough of a connection, nevertheless the Mishna advises us to be like "a tree with many roots and little branches which cannot be knocked over by the strongest wind." The more we think about our soul and its divine purpose, the smaller the chance that we will get disconnected, which might bring us to impurity.
May we soon merit the coming of Moshiach, when (as Hashem promised) ?I will take away the winds of impurity from the land.? Speedily in our days.
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Asher ben Shimon writes commentary for www.TorahThoughts.tk.
************
Spend Passover with Arutz Sheva at a resort in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv or Kfar Pines (near Hadera). Click here for info.
The law is that in order for food to become tameh, impure, it has to fulfill several conditions:
1) Only food fit for human consumption, ma'achal adam, can become impure;
2) Before the food comes into contact with the impure object that is giving over its impurity, it has to have been in contact with water (or certain other liquids). This contact must have been after the food was disconnected from its life source; i.e., after plants are cut or after animals die; and
3) The food has to be completely disconnected. If a plant still has one little root in the ground that might keep it alive, it cannot become impure.
Hashem created, and constantly sustains, the heavens and the earth. He created a world with good and evil, life and death. Since the creator of it all is Hashem, they all must have a purpose. The purpose of evil is to be a challenge and sometimes to serve as a reminder to bring us back to the right path. Life and everything else associated with good is obviously more important in this world. G-dliness, purity and good is life. Evil, sin and bad is death. Since the good is more important it receives a stronger 'life force' from above. Impure forces, on the other hand, have to suffice with very little.
A beggar once explained why he was relocating his ?work? territory from the subway trains to the casinos in Las Vegas. Instead of collecting nickels and dimes for many hours every day, he would wait for a lucky gambler to make a few thousand and then ask for fifty dollars in one shot. Similarly, impure powers tend to attach themselves to sources of great positive powers in order to suck more energy.
Every night when we go to sleep our soul goes up to heaven. Only a small part of our life force remains in the body. At that time, evil forces (which we don't physically feel, but which do bother us on a spiritual level) stick to us. When the soul returns most of it gets pushed away. Only part of it remains. For that reason we have to wash our hands first thing in the morning before we touch anything.
Now let's take a look at the different conditions needed to render something impure. The first condition was that it needs to be food fit for human consumption, ma'achal adam. ?Food? refers to all our physical needs.
"Man was created in the image of Hashem." There are several ways of saying ?man? in Hebrew. When the term adam is used, it is to stress the part of man that is Adame le'elyon, the part which resembles Hashem. When we use physical objects to serve G-d, we use them as food for our adam part, our soul. They become food for the "Adam who sits on the chair"- Hashem, the way he is described by the prophet Yechezkel.
Only food fit for human consumption can become impure. Only when there is G-dliness involved, is there is a chance that impure forces will be attracted to the food.
The second condition: the food has to be touched by water. Some of the characteristics of water: Water flows from high to low, from the mountains to the rivers, to the sea; in the body, water delivers the different energies derived from food and air to their right address; water makes things stick together (think of making a dough).
One can do all the mitzvot in a ?dry? way, just going through the motions without enthusiasm. It would be better to add some ?water?. Just like water goes down to lower levels, so, too, should we reach out to people who, at this point, seem to be lower than us in their observance of the Torah. We should travel around the different parts of the body - to which the Jewish people as a whole is compared - and teach everyone on his or her level. By doing that, ultimately we will have people ?sticking around us? who will start to follow our way of life, the ways of Torah.
Impure forces don't get too excited about ?dry? Jews. The active ones who bring holiness into this world have the biggest chance of coming into contact with impurity.
Now one may ask, if being good, and especially helping others to be good, attracts impurity, shouldn't it be better to keep low profile? At least then there is a smaller chance to become impure.
The third condition gives the solution to that problem. As long as there is a little root connected to the original life source, there is no possibility of impurity. Even contact with water, which is not impure by itself, but only makes it possible for the item to become impure when it gets into contact with an impure object, has no effect.
Our neshama (soul) is a ?part of G-d?, which doesn't get affected by any impurity.
There is one thing one is allowed to do before washing his hands in the morning: say the Modeh Ani prayer. This prayer (?I thankfully acknowledge You?) goes straight from the essence of the Jew to his Creator and cannot be contaminated by anything. This is the core of the neshama that always stays connected with Hashem. This is what made the secular Jews who were asked to convert by the Spanish Inquisition jump into the fire with cries of Shema Yisrael on their lips. This is what made people march to their deaths in the gas chambers singing Ani Ma'amin, I Believe.
We can have food fit for human consumption after it was touched by water, but as long as it is still connected to its source that doesn't matter. We can eat and sleep to derive strength to serve Hashem and we can be involved in outreach in an impure environment, but as long as we constantly remember that we do this because we are here to serve Hashem, and not for side motives, there is no problem. One can study Torah to impress others with his wisdom and open an outreach center to get his picture in the local newspaper. That is contaminated food. Torah has to be studied and mitzvot have to be fulfilled, because that is Hashem's will.
When we keep that in mind, when we stay in touch with our neshama, our part of G-d, we can keep our ?food? pure. The halacha is that even one little root is enough of a connection, nevertheless the Mishna advises us to be like "a tree with many roots and little branches which cannot be knocked over by the strongest wind." The more we think about our soul and its divine purpose, the smaller the chance that we will get disconnected, which might bring us to impurity.
May we soon merit the coming of Moshiach, when (as Hashem promised) ?I will take away the winds of impurity from the land.? Speedily in our days.
--------------------------------------------------------
Asher ben Shimon writes commentary for www.TorahThoughts.tk.
************
Spend Passover with Arutz Sheva at a resort in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv or Kfar Pines (near Hadera). Click here for info.