Day 16: Gevurah in Tiferet, Strength in Balance
Once during a team-building exercise for an organizational training day, me and my fellow employees were split into groups, given straws and marshmallows, and told to build something stable. Most groups built some form of cube-like house structure, which wobbled precariously. But two groups built triangular pyramid structures that provided much more stability. It reminded me of something I learned early in my conversion classes.
I remember learning about the "stool" of three things on which the world stands. In my memory, those three things are: Torah, God, and Israel (the place and the peoplehood). I can't find a source for those particular three things now that I'm looking for it, but there are quite a few "threes" in Jewish thought, so I'm going to count this one among them. The source that I found for this "stool" is actually a concept from Pirkei Avot (the Ethics of our Fathers) 1:2. "Shimon the Righteous was one of the last of the men of the great assembly. He used to say: the world stands upon three things: the Torah, service to God, and acts of lovingkindness."
Basically, a chair needs at least three legs to stand. The structure of three is stable and balanced. One or two of the legs won't hold up the chair without the others. Our faith is not as strong when we only focus on one aspect of it.
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