I am sharing this article that I ran across today, because sometimes it seems that the women are "stuck" doing the menial tasks while the men get to be spiritual. I especially liked what the author says here.
In one of the most powerful stories about our first patriarch, Abraham, God commanded him to circumcise himself when he was 99 years old. This was a difficult test for obvious reasons and it also required Abraham to mark himself as being fundamentally different than the rest of mankind. This went against his nature and his dominant trait of kindness, chesed. After this experience Abraham rose to new spiritual heights and merited prophecy that surpassed anything he had previously experienced.
In the midst of Abraham communing with God he sees three nomads traveling though the desert. He immediately asks God if He could "hold one" while Abraham tends to the guests. Abraham then proceeds to engage in the most mundane tasks, from washing off his guest's feet to slaughtering and serving meat. At a superficial glance, this seems ridiculous. How could Abraham pause mid-conversation with the Almighty, stop intense prophetic ecstasy, to care for three passers-by in the most basic and menial way?
Perhaps Abraham did not consider this decision to be so illogical and irreverent because he realized a profound truth that we are still struggling with. It is certainly holy to speak to God but it is the ultimate holiness to be like God, and the way that we imitate God is not through prayer, meditation or some other lofty spiritual activity but rather through the messy, difficult, painstaking work of nurturing, giving and caring for others. To be Godly is to practice selflessness and patience.
