The Kabbalah of Bread
Of all the creatures we are the only ones who cannot live very well if we just eat unprocessed foods. Did you ever wonder why? What is our purpose? How is our purpose connected with bread?
Recently I watched a program about animals and their eating habits and it struck me how lucky they are. They don’t need to cook any food, no need to use food processors, or bake anything, no kitchens, no mess, no shopping, no cleaning and no BBQing. On the other hand we just went on a family trip and we had to take half the kitchen, and an entire grocery store with us in the car. Why is it that we have to go to such lengths to prepare our food? And the better we want it to taste the more we need to patchke, (a wonderful Yiddish word to describe what you do in the kitchen when you are trying to cook gourmet). Let’s take bread for example; we humans cannot eat the hard kernel, we can cook it and soften it and then eat it but it doesn’t taste so good. If we grind it and grind it until it is so thin that it turns into flour and then we mix it with water and other ingredients and then we bake it in an oven, ah! Then you have delicious bread.
According to Kabbalah this is a lesson for us, it is G-d’s way of teaching us about our purpose.
Everything else in creation fulfils its purpose by just being itself. We on the other hand if we just act ourselves we have not fulfilled our purpose. This is reflected in our food. For animals they don’t have to do anything to their food in order to eat it, we have to do something to many foods to modify it from its natural state in order to eat it. (I am sure there are those that would argue and say that we should eat like the animals and not modify the food at all and that it would be better for us, whether that is true is debatable, but regardless, the mere fact that we have the choice and that we enjoy it better in its modified state, according to Kabbalah is not an accident or a bad habit but rather the way G-d intended it for us. For example according to the Torah we are required to eat matzah on Passover and Challah on Shabbat, both are created using flour etc.)
Let’s take it one step further, each of us is supposed to become bread. How? Well first lets start with the kernel, the kernel represents you as you are naturally, tough and self aware and self centered, not a good candidate for relationships with other humans or with G-d.
The first thing you need to do is to grind that kernel down until it turns into flour. So jump right into the grinder, just kidding, it means to remove the tough exterior and self centeredness and to open your self up to be able to unite with others, it does not mean to throw yourself away. We cannot unite with others and with G-d while we are so tough and self absorbed. Only after we have broken down the kernel and ground it so fine so that it is flour only then are we ready. How do we do that practically? The act of grinding in a spiritual sense is the activity of perspective. Truly understanding our place in the world and realizing that it not about me. The world does not revolve around me and it is not about me.
This past week the chabad world celebrated the release of the previous Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneerson from soviet prison in 1927 (for the full story click here). He was considered the lion of the Jewish people for his unwavering stand against the Soviets anti-religious onslaught and for his literal self sacrifice on behalf of Soviet Jewry. He was arrested many times in his life and was in constant danger of losing his life but he continued his indefatigable fight against those who wanted to eradicate Judaism. He ultimately succeeded in preserving Judaism and the now former Soviet Union is just another black stain on human history. Where did he get the courage and the strength, the fortitude to risk his life and stand up to one of the most ruthless regimes of our times? He practiced the above, he put himself and his personal concerns aside and gave all he had to a cause greater then himself. He ground his kernel into the finest and thinnest of flour. All that remained was a man with a dedication so strong that even the mighty Soviets could not crush him or his spirit.
G-d could have created us already in this refined state but he wanted us to participate in creation. This is our unique role in creation. But it is only the beginning.
To be continued…
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Zalman Marcus