Sukkah 14

On the bottom of yesterday’s daf, there was a question about if you could use grain that you originally cut in order to eat as roofing for your sukkah. Avoiding the lengthy conversation about if their “handles” remain susceptible to ritual impurity or not based on how we intend to use them – we get this interesting idea:

All vessels descend into their state of ritual impurity by means of thought. However, they ascend from their state of ritual impurity only by means of a change resulting from an action. status created by thought; however, thought negates neither status created by action nor status created by thought.

According to Steinsaltz this means, “Although an unfinished vessel ordinarily cannot become ritually impure, if the craftsman decided to leave it in its unfinished state, it immediately assumes the legal status of a completed vessel and can become ritually impure. Merely deciding to complete the unfinished vessel does not alter its status. It loses its status as a vessel only when he takes action to complete it.”

Why I love this passage is quite different. I am reading a book about how to fight bias and one of the key tools is becoming mindful of when we have bias, when we otherize someone, when we are blind to their unique story (which includes their many-faceted identities). Our thoughts alone have the ability to dehumanize others in our minds (even subconsciously) and we will behave in ways toward that person that are, shall we say, less than our holy ideal – meaning we are less good than we think we are and less likely to behave how God wants us to.

So, how do we fix this? That’s why I love this passage: . . . they ascend from their state of ritual impurity only by means of a change resulting from an action. status created by thought; however, thought negates neither status created by action nor status created by thought.

Noticing the way we think is key in understanding how we dehumanize and devalue others. However, noticing is the first step – but it’s not enough. The Gemara is telling us that we need to go beyond just learning and recognizing and move into the all important (but often uncomfortable zone) of action. Recognizing our bias should lead us to act to change the way we act in the world and change the way the system works (as our bias is a result of a system, not our being “bad”).

This passage is a bit of a kick in the pants. It’s not enough to read and open our own minds. This is important, but it won’t change things, it only changes our view of things. To make real change we need to act.