A Tree of Life

Anyone who does one mitzvah more than me is a fanatic; anyone who does one less is a heretic. Sadly, many of us who try to follow the 613 mitzvot enumerated in the Torah feel this way. No one person can follow all the commandments since some are only for men, others just for women, and some pertain only to kings, Cohanim, or farmers. There are the laws applicable only in the Land of Israel. The list goes on making it very complicated to judge another’s service to his Maker.

Still, most of us who try to observe the laws of the Torah agree that the three most basic commandments are the laws of keeping kosher, the laws of family purity, and the laws of Shabbat. To me, it’s interesting that, sooner or later, the secular world recognizes the benefits of these laws.

As a child I already knew the theory that before the days of refrigeration not eating pork prevented Jews from dying of trichinosis. As a young bride I learned that the incidence of pelvic cancer among Orthodox Jewish women was far less than among their secular counterparts. A few years later sex therapists began recommending periods of abstention just like couples using the mikvah had been doing for ages.

Now, in our age of technology, counselors are suggesting shutting down from electronic stimuli one day a week. I have a relative who once told me she couldn’t understand how I could close myself off from the world every Shabbat. When I tried to explain the benefits of disconnecting, she couldn’t get it. Recently, though, she wrote me: I have made a new rule for myself that I will not turn on the TV during Shabbat. That way I can avoid the stress of listening to such upsetting rhetoric. Now she gets it.

Although it’s nice to be validated, I don’t try to follow the words of the Torah for good health, physical or emotional. I follow them because I believe, with all my heart, that the Torah is a tree of life and those who hold fast to it are blessed. My hope is that as I’m holding fast, I’m neither a fanatic, nor a heretic. My prayer is that I’m a sincere Jew serving HaShem in the best possible way as myself.

My novel, Growing With My Cousin, a good summer read, is available at Jewish bookstores and on line at  http://www.feldheim.com/growing-with-my-cousin.html or

https://www.amazon.com/Growing-Cousin-Ester-Katz-Silvers/dp/194635113X/