A Measure of Spice

I remember that as teenagers we used to philosophize and discuss the meaning and purpose of life. We somehow felt that wearing torn jeans or mini-skirts, or having Tom Jones-style sideburns or Afro hair-dos will help us get there. Well, later on we got busy with settling in America, school, family, work and responsibilities, and along the way forgot all about the meaning and purpose of life.

Quite frankly, after a hard and long day at the office or downtown, buying and selling this, that or the other real estate deal, or myriad other activities that we are all involved with (not to mention all the mehmoonis that we must attend), there is simply no energy or motivation left to amuse such ponderings as the meaning of life.

Spending quality time with our parents, grandparents and family elders, and visiting an old-age home and chatting with those who also at one time had busy lives will provide an instantaneous reality check as what is important in life. And of course, spending meaningful time with our own spouse, children and other loved ones, looking them straight in the eyes, and telling them that we love them, does not hurt either. I once heard that the founder of Wal-Mart said on his deathbed, something to the effect: "I blew it; I should have spent more time with my family". Imagine that.! The founder of one of the richest corporations in America is remorseful that he did not set his priorities straight.

The observance of authentic Torah-based Judaism provides a way of life that allows the observant to develop a crystal clear view of life's priorities. Rabbi Noach Weinberg of Aish HaTorah calls it the "5-Finger Clarity". Just look at your hand; you get the point. Torah, as the G-d given instruction manual for life, provides a practical system of maximizing one's true potential in all aspects of life. Meaning, any type of a person that you aspire to become, you will become that much greater if you live a Torah-centered life. Now, this is a big proposition, not to be taken lightly. Of course, the voice in the back of the mind cries out: "Come on, give me a break, are you telling me that shaking a bunch of plants and vegetables (the four species) inside a man-made flimsy hut that can hardly stand a breeze, or blowing into a sheep’s horn (shofar), will bring me closer to the Source of creation?” The answer is an absolute, a definite, and an unshakable YES!.

Our rabbis teach us that one of the fundamental reasons that we are born is to work on our character traits. That is each and every one of us is a soul which has certain deficiencies. The soul is put into a body and therefore given a chance to improve itself. All the life circumstances are tailor-made for each particular soul to give it ample opportunity to rise above each circumstance and better itself.

“Character Trait” in Hebrew is called “Midah” which means “Measure”, like a measure or quantity of spice that is added, say to your Gondi Shabbati! A little too much, or too little just ruins it all. You need a precise amount of each spice to get the perfect gondi. The idea is that all character traits (capacity to love, anger, strength, humor, etc.) are needed and are already present in a person in varying quantities, but it is our job in life to work on ourselves to adjust these quantities for our individual soul.

I submit to you, that our glorious Torah, the very words of the Creator which were spoken at Sinai, has instructions to help you work with that which you have been given, to adjust your spice-mix in order to become the best you that is humanly possible.

This idea is beautifully illuminated in the following story:

... concerning the famous violinist Itzhak Perlman. One evening, Perlman was in New York to give a concert. As a child he had been stricken with polio and getting on stage is no small feat for him. He wears braces on both legs and walks with two crutches. Perlman crossed the stage painfully slowly, until he reached the chair in which he seated himself to play.

As soon as he appeared on stage that night, the audience applauded and then waited respectfully as he made his way slowly across the stage. He took his seat, signaled to the conductor, and began to play. No sooner had he finished the first few bars than one of the strings on his violin snapped with a report like gunshot. At that point Perlman was close enough to the beginning of the piece that it would have been reasonable to bring the concert to a halt while he replaced the string to begin again. But that's not what he did. He waited a moment and then signaled the conductor to pick up just where they had left off. Perlman now had only three strings with which to play his soloist part. He was able to find some of the missing notes on adjoining strings, but where that wasn't possible, he had to rearrange the music on the spot in his head so that it all still held together. He played with passion and artistry, spontaneously rearranging the symphony right through to the end. When he finally rested his bow, the audience sat for a moment in stunned silence. And then they rose to their feet and cheered wildly. They knew they had been witness to an extraordinary display of human skill and ingenuity.

Perlman raised his bow to signal for quiet. "You know," he said, "sometimes it is the artist's task to find out how much beautiful music you can still make with what you have left." Please consider studying the following excellent series of articles called Path of the Soul by Dr. Alan Morinis