Lessons from Oil

Hopefully by the time you read this, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will be contained. But even if it has been contained, it has created an environmental and economic disaster of epic proportions.
As scientists study the long-term effects, engineers work to stop the river of oil, and politicians debate policy or assign blame. In keeping with the Baal Shem Tov's teaching that everything a Jew encounters contains a lesson in Divine service, we can try to learn something from this disaster. In addition, there is also the principal that from the negative one can learn, or deduce, the positive. So it is here.

What are the facts of the physical disaster? A well was drilled into the earth's core, the very source of our world, as it were, to bring oil to the surface - through the depths of the ocean - for people to use, and to provide energy. Improper or insufficient safety measures were in place, and the controlled, orderly flow became a chaotic disaster.

On a spiritual level, Torah in general and Chasidic teachings in particular, are referred to as wellsprings. We know that oil is compared to wisdom - true, the Sages mean olive oil, but for our analogy here we may extend the metaphor slightly, since petroleum oil is used to produce energy, and that is used for light.

We also know that the level of G-dly Knowledge that will fill the earth in the times of Moshiach is compared to the "water covering the ocean." Chasidut explains the meaning of the prophetic statement: just as there is life in the ocean, but that life is hidden in the waters, entirely immersed in it, so too ocean life, though individually identifiable, is immersed in and has no separate existence from the water that surrounds it.

Our task on Earth is to extract the energy and light-producing oil - Torah, Divine Wisdom, specifically, Chasidut - from the depths and make it available literally everywhere. If we "extract" that Divine Wisdom properly then we will operate in an "environmentally safe" manner, spiritually speaking. G-dliness will surround us; we will be immersed in it.

But if we are not careful, if we don't take the proper precautions when studying Torah, especially Chasidut - then there will be a break in the pipeline, so to speak. What are those precautions? Studying with humility, learning from a teacher, learning according to the structure of Torah from Sinai, understanding that the spiritual and mystical must be rooted in practical mitzvot (commandment) observance, in the order that Torah decrees.

We can do more than pray for an end to the Gulf oil crisis. Our spiritual actions have an impact, even in the physical world. We can help fix a broken pipeline by making sure our spiritual one is secure.