S
urfing the Surface
As I sit here writing at my desk in Chai Lifeline’s Camp Simcha Special this question takes on deeper import. The perspective of one’s takfid becomes weighted when viewing the vast differences between Hashem’s beloved children.
Sometimes differences or handicaps may not be blatantly apparent at first glance. We tend to focus on external looks and features to make comparisons. Yet the disparities may lurk beneath the surface. Here inCampSimcha the surface distinctions are less subtle. Yet those appearances often mask deep spirituality.
Since we live in a physical world our quest for tafkid is often distorted by our desire to maximize our physical potential. When we banter about “living it up” — is that really life? And what an abysmal waste such a life would be when we reach the eternal world and physicality is relegated to nihility.
The Gemara in Bava Basra (73b) discusses the allegorical adventures of Rava bar Chana and his compatriots: “Once we were traveling on a boat and we saw a fish that had sand on its back and grass growing on it. We thought it to be dry land and we baked and cooked on its back. When the back of the fish got hot the fish turned over! Had our boat not been close by we would have drowned.”
