Do you sometimes feel enslaved to your job? Do you find yourself thinking about work at the dinner table? Do you come home late due to obsessing over your job performance? Or do you feel the opposite - that you cannot focus on work due to your familial obligations?
How can we find the right balance between our jobs and our families, communities and personal lives?
I believe this week’s Torah portion, Ki Tisa, can shed some light.
Two portions back – in parshat Terumah – the Torah told about the construction of the Mishkan (Sacntuary) and its sacred vessels. However, in this week’s Torah portion we are introduced to a new vessel, the Kiyor, the Wash Basin. Why is this vessel only mentioned now and not earlier with the rest of the vessels?
The purpose of the Kiyor was to prepare the kohanim, priests, to enter into sacred duty in the Mishkan. The priests were not permitted to enter the sacred space without first washing their hands and feet. In light of this we can understand that the purpose of the kiyor was preparatory. Therefore it is mentioned separately.
Spiritually, this indicates the important task of segregating one’s mind and emotions in order to serve G-d. It isn’t sufficient to simply ‘enter into the Sanctuary’ of the Divine. We first need to ‘wash up’ from our materialistic and mundane affairs to properly approach the sacred.
By means of an example, when a doctor needs to administer a shot to a patient, s/he needs to wash hands to sterilize oneself prior to touching the patient. In fact, a doctor will do this again and again – going from one patient to the other.
Similarly, when entering into a sacred task – be it davening, learning or any other endeavor that is directly between man and his Creator – it’s necessary to break from what we are doing – both mentally and physically. Often, we need to do this many times throughout the day.
In fact, this is why the Code of Jewish Law states that one should wash one’s hands before prayer. It’s not merely because one ought to be hygienic and clean when talking to the King of Kings. It’s in order to have the proper devotion and ‘pull away’ from the baggage we travel around with all day.
This approach can – and should – also be applied to other areas of our lives.
If we wish to have the proper focus and attention to our family during dinnertime, it isn’t enough to simply show up. If we want to truly shift from one modality to the other, a ritual – be it mental or physical – is called for. We ought to take a lesson from the requisite washing of the kohanim, and ‘wash up’ so we can switch roles effectively.