Sermon: The Cracked Pot (Parashat B’har)

Written by Writings & Sermons by others — 11 May 2015

A long, long time ago in India there lived a water bearer.  He had two pots, and he had a very long pole, which he balanced across his very broad shoulders.  He hung one pot from each end of his long pole.  Each day the man left his home with his empty pots and his pole draped across his broad shoulders and walked down the path to the stream.  Once at the stream, the man filled both his pots with water.  Then he put the pots back on his pole, balanced his pole across his shoulders, and walked back home.  Now what you should know is this: one of the man’s pots had a crack in it!  And just as you’d expect, every time the man arrived home, the cracked pot was only half full of water.
But that didn’t change the man’s routine:  every day he walked down the path to the stream, collected his water, and arrived home with one pot full of water and the other pot half full.  This went on every day, week after week, month after month, year after year.  As you might imagine, the cracked pot felt sad and ashamed.  One day as the man was walking home, the cracked pot mustered up the courage to speak to the man.  “Excuse me, sir.  I’m so sorry,” said the pot.  “And I really want to apologise and beg your forgiveness.”
“Why?” asked the man.  “What do you have to apologize for?”
“Over the years that I’ve helped you, I’ve never been able to deliver a full load of water for you.  I’ve never been able to do my fair share.  You work so hard, but because of my crack you never get the full amount of water.  So your efforts are never completely rewarded, and it’s all because of me and my crack.”
Hearing this, the man felt sorry for the pot.  “Listen,” he said. “It’s okay.  Really, it is.  In fact, the next time we go to collect water, as we walk along, I want you to look out over your side of the path.”
The pot agreed.  The next day, as was his routine, the water bearer walked down to the stream with his pole and his empty pots.  Once at the stream, the man filled both pots with water and placed one at each end of his pole, which he balanced across his broad shoulders.  Then the man started for home.
Instead of worrying about the crack and the water that was falling out, the pot did as the man had instructed.  The pot looked out along the side of the path.  And what he saw was amazing: fields of beautiful flowers!
The man stopped.  “Do you see all those flowers?” he asked the pot.  Before the pot had time to respond, the man spoke again:  “And have you notice that these gorgeous flowers are only on your side of the path?  It’s because I know that water leaked from your crack, so I planted seeds along the way.  That way, every day when we walked back up to the house, you watered the seeds.  It’s thanks to you that we have these beautiful flowers growing along the path.   Without your crack, we wouldn’t have these colourful flowers to brighten my day and bring beauty to the world.  So I need to thank you.  Thank you for being a cracked pot.”
We are now over halfway through the counting of the Omer.  Today is day 35 of the 49 day count. The Omer is the period that marks the time between the barley harvest and the wheat harvest. It moves us from one holiday to the next, and takes us from the first buds of spring towards the full flowering of our plants and crops.   This is the practical explanation for the Omer, and, like most everything in Judaism, there is a spiritual explanation as well.  Kabbalah teaches us that during these forty-nine days following Pesach, we need to take great care in ridding all negative influences from every area of our lives. After Pesach, we begin anticipating Shavuot, and the receiving of Torah.  Receiving Torah at Sinai is the ultimate goal of the Exodus that we commemorate at Pesach.  We were freed from slavery for the express purpose of taking on the responsibility of Torah.  Counting the Omer is the spiritual work that we do in order to earn revelation.
In order to help us with this spiritual work, the Kabbalists assigned a particular personality trait to each week of the Omer, and a combination of personality traits for each day.  The goal is to focus on these specific traits each day, and try to improve every aspect of our lives.  Once we have resolved each issue for the 49 days, we are then spiritually ready to receive Torah.  Today, the 35th day of the Omer, can also be counted as the 7th day of the 5th week.  The personality trait attributed to week 5 is Hod, or glory – and so during week 5 we are supposed to be working on cultivating our humility.  Today in particular we look at the Malchut of Hod, or the nobility of humility.  We are to look within ourselves and see how our humility and our modesty can actually serve to enhance our dignity.  Humility is not meant to push us down, or belittle us, rather humility allows us be honest about ourselves, and really shine where we deserve to shine, instead of trying to force ourselves into spaces where we don’t belong.
The word Hod also means ‘acknowledgement,’ from the root hoda’ah.  The true nobility of our humility is acknowledging that all of our gifts were given to us by God, and so they should be used not to further our own ambitions, but to improve our world.  In the days following the election, I don’t think that I really need to tell you that we live in a very ego-driven world.  So many of us push and strive in order to build ourselves up, puff ourselves out, and focus on our own needs.  But walking humbly is walking tall with dignity – it’s acknowledging our strengths and appreciating that our weaknesses are what make us unique and glorious.
As Ozzy taught us this morning, our parsha this week talks about the laws of the Jubilee year.   The Jubilee year is a culmination of a series of Sabbatical years.  The Sabbatical year is a time of rest and renewal, a time of rebirth and regrowth, a time to break free of our enslavements and reboot the earth and reboot ourselves.  It is a time when we don’t create anything new, it is a time when we practice humility and modesty, and allow ourselves to be refreshed.  It is, in essence, a year-long Shabbat.  I think that it is very fitting that day 35 of the Omer falls on Shabbat this year.  Shabbat is a majestic time, and a restful time.  We humble ourselves by not puffing ourselves up and creating and producing, but by sanctifying and glorifying God.  On Shabbat, it is only through being still, being small, and being humble, that we are aware of the holy presence around us.

Majesty and glory exist everywhere in our world, yet so many of us can’t see beyond our own concerns, needs, and daily struggles to see it.  Yes, taking care of ourselves is important, and yes, we should be proud of all that we are capable of, but just like the cracked pot, it isn’t until we acknowledge our flaws that our greatest strengths can be revealed to us.  None of us can handle everything that life throws at us at all times.  None of us is good at everything we try to do.  None of us has all of the answers, and certainly, none of us are perfect. But each one of us is just like the cracked pot.  We have flaws, and when we can humbly acknowledge and admit our flaws, we will be able to understand how much beauty we really bring to this world.  We will be able to see the flowers that our cracks have helped us to water along the way.