Why Can’t Orthodox Jews Be Normal Like Everyone Else?

A few aish.com readers recently asked me the following question: Why can’t observant Jews just be normal? Why do they perform these antiquated mitzvot, commandments, that make them stand out as different?

I got a link today to a video that’s making the rounds of a friendly American Airlines Jewish pilot bidding his deplaning passengers farewell while wearing tefillin, black phylacteries that sit right in the middle of his head.

Long story short, a Chabad rabbi on the flight asked him if he wanted to put on tefillin and do a mitzvah. He agreed and wore them once they landed. Beautiful. But do you wonder what all those people disembarking the plane thought? What on earth is that pilot wearing?

I’d like to share one idea to answer this question.

The Hebrew word “mitzvah” – commandment, shares the same root as the word “tzavta” which means - "teaming up with" - connection. Doing a mitzvah isn’t merely doing a good deed; it’s a vehicle to reach out and connect to the Creator.

How do mitzvot accomplish that?

The Zohar, Judaism’s primary mystical commentary on the Torah, says that when God created the universe, He first looked into the Torah. The Torah is the blueprint of creation. This is actually a very profound idea.

A massive skyscraper is the outermost manifestation of detailed blueprints. The blueprints, which came before the construction, is a microcosm of the building. And before the blueprint, there was an idea that took shape in the mind of the architect. And before the mere idea of the skyscraper, there was the architect herself, who is the source for everything.

The Torah, as a blueprint of creation, is a microcosm of the universe. The world and everything in it is a reflection of the Torah; it is the outer manifestation of the Torah which existed before there was a universe. And before the Torah, there is “The Architect” – the Creator who is the foundational source for everything. This is God.

It can be compared to nestling Russian dolls, where each doll is a smaller replica of the previous doll. The first doll, the primary doll that is the source for everything is God. The next doll is the primordial Torah, the blueprint which can be described as being the mind of God. Then the next doll is the universe, which is a reflection of the Torah.

The commandments are not meaningless rituals, nor are they just good advice that you can get from any self-help book.

And the final tiny doll that rests in the middle – that’s you. Your objective is to fashion yourself into a microcosm of the primary doll and fit perfectly in place by resembling God. How? By learning and embodying the Torah, and inculcating its values, which are an expression of the Creator, you resemble God and thereby become attached to Him.

The commandments are not meaningless rituals, nor are they just good advice that you can get from any self-help book. The Torah is the matrix; it’s the source code, the blueprint of reality, and when you perform a mitzvah you are connecting to the Source of existence.

If Torah was just another self-help book, just a really old one that is still a bestseller, there would be no reason not to revamp the writing and come out with a newer edition more in sync with the current zeitgeist, or to discard what you don’t relate to.

But the Torah is reality since it stems from an Infinite, unchangeable source. That’s why it’s immutable and never goes out of fashion. Every word is a portal to a fount of deep wisdom. Yes, some commandments may look odd or different (especially if you’ve never seen anyone wear tefillin), but that is due to our lack of understanding.

In describing the Torah, the Mishna in Ethics of the Fathers says, “Turn it over, turn it over! For everything is in it” (5:2). So the next time you see something odd in Judaism, use it as an invitation to explore its deeper meaning and extract some of the wisdom that waits for you to discover. You’ll also expand your definition of what is normal.