Not everything in Judaism has to be a big deal, a huge loyalty test to God or a supreme test of will and character.
Have you ever signed on the dotted line without reading the terms of the contract, where you looked for the signature line, scribbled your name, and called it a day? I sure have, and we did exactly this when we stood at Mount Sinai and called out to God in unison that “We will do and we will hear” — meaning we agreed to take on all that God requires of us, before we even heard the terms.
One of the “line items” in that contract, as stated in this week’s Torah portion, Shemini, tells us which birds, fish and animals are kosher. The animals that are kosher pretty much hang out together in a big clump and don’t fight back. In essence, God is telling us that if we want a steak or a chicken filet, all we have to do is get it from our back yard. We don’t have to chase down a cheetah, hunt a rhinoceros or go kill a lion. We don’t have to hunt birds of prey or catch sharks.
God made it easy for us by designating as kosher the animals that are domesticated or pretty easy to catch. Not everything in Judaism has to be a big deal, a huge loyalty test to God or a supreme test of will and character.
Imagine what a horrible strain that would put on your own relationships if every day your spouse or kid or friend had to do Herculean tasks to please you and demonstrate love and devotion. God doesn’t require that of us, because God is not a taskmaster; nor is God sadistic, capricious or terribly hard to please. Pagan cultures practiced human sacrifice to “appease the gods.” God doesn’t want our lives to be a sacrifice, literally or figuratively; rather, His ways are pleasant.
On the other hand, we should not become complacent. We sometimes make the mistake of thinking that the simple and the easy tasks don’t matter as much. We don’t understand how the repetitive or seemingly unchallenging tasks of life can be imbued with significance. We hear so much about “tapping into our potential” and “living our life’s mission” that we may think day-to-day living is mundane or meaningless. It is anything but.
God gives us commandments for one simple reason – to connect with Him. In making it so easy for us to eat kosher animals, birds and fish, God is saying: Connect with me in the simple everyday things of your life. Nothing is too mundane or ordinary or easy to be sacred and a vehicle to come close to Me. If we become mindful of the underlying meaning or value, we can hook our day-to-day activities to a higher meaning and purpose.
A life worth living is in the little things, the easy things. Don’t sleepwalk through life waiting for the grand gesture to appear. Over time, little moments add up to a great life and deeply satisfying relationships. Don’t miss them.
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