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In this week’s Torah portion, there is a brief but exciting discussion about how the priests in the Temple used to take out the trash. Okay, maybe not exciting-in fact, it has always seemed to be one of the more useless (throw-away?) sections of the Torah. But this week, the descriptions of how the priests needed to dress in certain clothes, only touch certain items, and carefully insure the cleanliness of themselves and the space around them seemed eerily prescient. I’ve never thought about cleaning as much as I have this week, nor have I ever realized just how difficult it was. I have washed my hands until they’re chapped and done several loads of laundry daily, and still I know it’s not enough. Just watching the how-to video on YouTube explaining the way to safely bring groceries into the house was enough to put me into a full blown panic.

The descriptions of how the priests maintained their cleanliness are not exactly practical; there was certainly no anti-bacterial soap, no Amazon, no toilet paper to be hoarded. Yet there is something critical about the very fact that it is included in the Torah text. By offering us descriptions of the priests engaging in such mundane actions, it reminds us that literally anything we can do can become a holy act. And the moment we are able to create the sacred, it takes away some of that which makes us scared. When we take a mundane, yet potentially anxiety-provoking task and make it holy, we are able to lift some of the burden from it and invest it with deeper meaning.

As we adjust to this new normal, may we find ways to add holiness to each action we take to keep ourselves as healthy, clean, and separate as we can. That can mean taking a moment to breathe deeply before entering the house with groceries. It can mean offering a word of thanks when we wash our dishes, showing gratitude for the fact that we have the ability and the tools to do so. Even the smallest, least significant acts of everyday life have the potential to be invested with holiness.

We’ve shared with you the Hebrew blessing for washing one’s hands, but here is an English version shared by the Central Conference of American Rabbis:

As we wash our hands

We pray,

Blessed is the Soul of the Universe, breathing us in and breathing us out.

May our breaths continue

And our health and the health of all

Be preserved

In this time of sickness and fear of sickness.

Holy Wholeness,

We take as much responsibility for it as we can

By observing the obligation to wash our hands,

Using lots of soap and hot water,

Thoroughly;

For as long as it takes to say this prayer.

Amen.