One of the fun activities that I love doing with my children is planting a vegetable garden. Currently our kitchen looks like a giant greenhouse as trays and trays of seedlings of all kinds of vegetables are taking root and beginning to sprout. Corn, squash, tomatoes, peppers and much more are sprouting all over the kitchen counters.
It is a fascinating process to watch unfold as a tiny dry seed is placed in soil, watered daily, given sun light and then a few days later a little seedling comes out the earth. In just a few days we will plant them in the ground and then G-d willing over the next few months, we will enjoy vegetables of many different kinds and species.
The process is even more fascinating with fruit trees as the seeds don't simply produce a plant that will survive one season and produce seeds for the next season, but instead they will produce a tree that will become huge and give fruit for many years to come.
From one little tiny seed, so much good can be produced and found, when cultivated in the right way.
What is amazing is that the seed could be left in a bag or on a shelf for years and nothing would come of it, yet when given the right environment and nutrients and allowed to begin to decompose and the process of growth, amazing things can happen.
In a Chassidic discourse I was studying this week, it likened this very process to Torah study and the way we learn. We often take some of the stories and laws of the Torah as simple stories and dry facts, without realizing the tremendous potential and rich spiritual DNA material that is contained in each and every word and letter.
Yet when we try and study with the right mindset and attitude which includes humility and a recognition of the depth and power of the ideas, then these little bits of study, become transformative and cause us to develop spiritually, intellectually, emotionally and in our behavior too.
We can also simply look at things we learn and hear, as dry facts with no depth, in which case, it is like a seed that is lying dormant on a shelf or in a packet, which will stay like that until someone chooses to enable that seed to be nurtured. Or when studying Judaism's rich ideas, we can do so with humility and we can relax and loosen our mind and prepare it absorb and tackle new and great ideas, so that the seed of knowledge can can take root and begin to grow and affect us.
Indeed this is also one of the opening themes of the second portion of this week's Torah portion, Bechukotai, which as Rashi explains, refers to the toiling of Torah study and how powerful and important it is to us and our path in life.
Wishing everyone success in planting and cultivating the seeds of knowledge and Torah in our own minds and the minds of our youth and children, so that the fruits of these ideas will continue to nourish us and the world around us in a deep and profound way.
Good Shabbos
Yisroel