Whatever pursuits in life may be undertaken, all involve a vast amount of struggle. A successful life is dependent upon the ability to recognize priorities and to diligently put them in place. Decisions must be carefully reached as to where the most of our efforts be directed.
In preparation of food, clothing and shelter, a substantial amount of effort is extended in more than just acquiring the materials needed. While a person can basically live with bland food, drab clothing and shamble housing, this will leave him in a state of great discomfort. Therefore, much effort is made in creating the necessities in a fashion in which they are savory, orderly, clean, neat and beautiful. In calculating the proportion of money the population of developed nations spend for needs, a greater amount is spent initially for the beautiful embellishments of the products than for the basic forms.
Our food, clothing and shelter as important as they might seem, are only incidental to that which should be our prime concerns. Our intellect, our emotions, our thoughts, our words and our deeds comprise our real selves. Our minds are beautiful, meaningful and admirable when we use it to distinguish between right and wrong; between good and evil. Our emotions which consist of ambition, appetite and self dignity are beautiful, meaningful and admirable when we blend our self-centered interests with love and commitment to everyone else and use our thoughts, speech and actions to further these goals.
We work very hard and spend much money to keep our homes beautiful, neat and clean. We always are involved in making our clothes clean and attractive. So do we make an effort to enhance our food in appearance, aroma and taste. All these are matters outside of our real selves. How much more must we struggle to purge our minds of cunning, our hearts of greed, lust, hatred and vanity and our thoughts, words and actions of false values, slander and evil acts.
The days of Sefirah are specially set aside to accomplish cleansing, beautifying, embellishing, improving our lives, spirits and souls with purity and holiness to make all the struggles of life worthwhile, meaningful and of value.
Ohev Shalom Voice
