Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Furthermore...

Continued from next (above) post.
Some of your strengths are my weaknesses.
Are you calling me frum because I have something you lack?
Well, you have several essentials that I lack. [trust me -ed.]
(and probably more that I don't know about)

That's part of the beauty of being part of Am Yisrael:
If we can truly be as one, we can help make each other whole.

(I need to check my source for the following -- I have it written down at home)
Suppose there is a Jew who wants very much to do the mitzva of hosting guests, but he lacks the means, while another Jew is wealthy enough to host many guests, but he does it grudgingly. Who should get more credit? Neither mitzva is complete.

The Jewish nation is called Adam, a word meaning "man" that has no plural form in the Hebrew language. The connotation is that we are one -- one person with one soul.

Just as a person has both a body and soul, each mitzva has two corresponding components. If one Jew fulfills the "soul" of the mitzva, that is, the pure intentions and desire, and another provides the "body," they combine to form a complete, wholehearted mitzva. (Think of eye-hand coordination -- you may do things with different parts of your body, but it is the same person doing it)

Yes, you really are my soul-sister, and I am not complete without you.
Perhaps it is true that I perform more mitzvot than you, but how many of those are rote, or insincere! Perhaps you quest for Truth, your striving to become closer to HaShem, is the shining flame of our common soul.

Now, do you really think I could possibly write you off as "not frum enough"?!

3 comments:

the dreamer said...

beautiful.

now, if only people would actually believe one to be sincere when you say that...

David_on_the_Lake said...

Thats so original...

But is that an excuse to be complacent with being half of the picture instead of striving to be complete individually?

Bas~Melech said...

Hm... two weeks, two comments. Am I getting old?

Dreamer, you don't have to say that and have people believe you. Anyone can do this from a soapbox, but what you have to do is LIVE it. Which is harder unless you truly believe it deep inside. I think I'm somewhere in between, and people KNOW those times when you have to fake it...

DOTL, no. Why would you think that?