Fences

This morning Pepper got out of the yard. I ended up putting up a piece of fence around the fence she got out of. In doing this rather simple act I thought about a Rabbi I know who explained the Oral law to me as being a fence around the written law, to keep you from even getting close to breaking a law. An example... if you don't carry money on the sabbath, then you are not likely to break the law of spending money on the sabbath. It makes sense. We often raise our children with the same sort of idea. We tell them not to do this or that, which of itself may not be so bad, but it keeps them from getting close to doing what is wrong. If you look at things this way, you can see some real merit in traditions that keep you from even getting within shooting range of something that might not be so good.

The plain world is full of these secondary fences. Things that keep you from getting near to the very things that will suck you in and draw you into a world that may just sink you. If you look at them that way, its not really such a bad idea. But it sure is hard. The thing that I found different from ultra orthodox Judaism and the plain world is that an openess to the struggles of humanity are so hush hush as in the plain world .

I doubt little Pepper understands that what I did today was for her own good. She actually got out again, so now she is in her dog pen, its a nice fenced in area about 8x16 ft. She has a house in there, her pool, water and feed along with toys. But she hates it, it restricts her. She feels like she has no freedom, but she has all she needs. I guess we are a bit like Pepper at times. Wanting total choice, total freedom and not a fence within a fence.