{"id":12598,"date":"2009-04-12T10:09:48","date_gmt":"2009-04-12T10:09:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/production.ou.org\/life\/other\/parshat_shemini_practice_makes_perfect\/"},"modified":"2015-10-30T05:02:36","modified_gmt":"2015-10-30T10:02:36","slug":"parshat_shemini_practice_makes_perfect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/parshat_shemini_practice_makes_perfect\/","title":{"rendered":"Parshat Shemini: Practice Makes Perfect"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We all hope for Perfection. Some of us even do something about it.<\/p>\n<p>For many years he has worked. A dreamer by trade, an architect by necessity. He has built and built: brick after brick, layer upon layer, bit by little bit \u2013 and now, today, out of a bottomless pit it has risen: A result so alive all those who come near it know its pulse and cannot help but become alive as well.<\/p>\n<p>But let us backtrack a bit, to a time when things were less constructive and a place where things were less constructed.<\/p>\n<p>He was confused: he had feelings, dreams, wants, ambitions \u2013 but he really didn\u2019t know what to do with them: sure, he wanted a perfect world, a place where he could walk the streets and recognize every face as an expression of the Divine image, see within every leaf and fire-hydrant the vibrant, Pure energy that makes it be.<\/p>\n<p>But how \u2013 how to see Perfection in an imperfect place? How to know what is True in an environment false?<\/p>\n<p>So he began.<\/p>\n<p>He began building, a perfect home for a perfect dream. Of course, Perfect here does not mean without challenges \u2013 that would be Safe \u2013 Perfect here means the challenges are seen as bricks with which to build: the harder the challenge, the harder the brick; the greater the task, the greater the result.<\/p>\n<p>And so, slowly but ever so surely he built. From nothing, something. From something, anything. From anything, everything.<\/p>\n<p>He began by knowing that within him there is a dream, a dream that has to be built: no matter what people around him may or may not say \u2013 because, trust me, they most certainly may \u2013 there is a vision here that has to be fulfilled; regardless of what the voices outside of him beseech him to or not to do \u2013 because, once again please trust me, they most certainly will beseech \u2013 the voice within him, the voice that says you have a Reason and a Purpose which no one but you can fulfill, that voice resonates deeper and truer then anything else.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, all we have to do is be honest enough to listen.<\/p>\n<p>Now here we are. Brick after brick, layer upon layer, bit by little bit \u2013 and now, today, out of a bottomless pit it has risen: A result so alive all those who come near it know its pulse and cannot help but become alive as well.<\/p>\n<p>We all hope for Perfection. Some of us even do something about it.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><i>Mendel Jacobson is a writer, poet and journalist living in Brooklyn. His weekly poetry can be seen at <a href=\"http:\/\/jakeyology.blogspot.com\">jakeyology.blogspot.com<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We all hope for Perfection. Some of us even do something about it. For many years he has worked. A dreamer by trade, an architect by necessity. He has built and built: brick after brick, layer upon layer, bit by little bit \u2013 and now, today, out of a bottomless pit it has risen: A<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":168,"featured_media":45850,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[89,85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-growth","category-inspiration"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Parshat Shemini: Practice Makes Perfect<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Now, today, out of a bottomless pit it has risen: A result so alive all those who come near it know its pulse and cannot help but become alive as well\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/parshat_shemini_practice_makes_perfect\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Parshat Shemini: Practice Makes Perfect\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Now, today, out of a bottomless pit it has risen: A result so alive all those who come near it know its pulse and cannot help but become alive as well\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/parshat_shemini_practice_makes_perfect\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-04-12T10:09:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-10-30T10:02:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Perfection-1024x842.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"842\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mendel Jacobson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mendel Jacobson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/parshat_shemini_practice_makes_perfect\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/parshat_shemini_practice_makes_perfect\/\",\"name\":\"Parshat Shemini: Practice Makes Perfect\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/parshat_shemini_practice_makes_perfect\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/parshat_shemini_practice_makes_perfect\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Perfection.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-04-12T10:09:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-10-30T10:02:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/242bca2512c02cc53020f4148fe89907\"},\"description\":\"Now, today, out of a bottomless pit it has risen: A result so alive all those who come near it know its pulse and cannot help but become alive as well\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/parshat_shemini_practice_makes_perfect\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/parshat_shemini_practice_makes_perfect\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Perfection.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Perfection.jpg\",\"width\":5000,\"height\":4113,\"caption\":\"Welcome to Perfection Sign\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/\",\"name\":\"OU Life\",\"description\":\"Everyday Jewish Living\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/242bca2512c02cc53020f4148fe89907\",\"name\":\"Mendel Jacobson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/823ff247be040abf00df544238e15ae61a7158b8c4d8f997ef29708f4322734a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/823ff247be040abf00df544238e15ae61a7158b8c4d8f997ef29708f4322734a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mendel Jacobson\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/author\/mendel_jacobsonou-org\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Parshat Shemini: Practice Makes Perfect","description":"Now, today, out of a bottomless pit it has risen: A result so alive all those who come near it know its pulse and cannot help but become alive as well","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/parshat_shemini_practice_makes_perfect\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Parshat Shemini: Practice Makes Perfect","og_description":"Now, today, out of a bottomless pit it has risen: A result so alive all those who come near it know its pulse and cannot help but become alive as well","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/parshat_shemini_practice_makes_perfect\/","og_site_name":"OU Life","article_published_time":"2009-04-12T10:09:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-10-30T10:02:36+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":842,"url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Perfection-1024x842.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Mendel Jacobson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mendel Jacobson","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/parshat_shemini_practice_makes_perfect\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/parshat_shemini_practice_makes_perfect\/","name":"Parshat Shemini: Practice Makes Perfect","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/parshat_shemini_practice_makes_perfect\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/parshat_shemini_practice_makes_perfect\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Perfection.jpg","datePublished":"2009-04-12T10:09:48+00:00","dateModified":"2015-10-30T10:02:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/242bca2512c02cc53020f4148fe89907"},"description":"Now, today, out of a bottomless pit it has risen: A result so alive all those who come near it know its pulse and cannot help but become alive as well","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/parshat_shemini_practice_makes_perfect\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/parshat_shemini_practice_makes_perfect\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Perfection.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Perfection.jpg","width":5000,"height":4113,"caption":"Welcome to Perfection Sign"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/","name":"OU Life","description":"Everyday Jewish Living","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/242bca2512c02cc53020f4148fe89907","name":"Mendel Jacobson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/823ff247be040abf00df544238e15ae61a7158b8c4d8f997ef29708f4322734a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/823ff247be040abf00df544238e15ae61a7158b8c4d8f997ef29708f4322734a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Mendel Jacobson"},"url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/author\/mendel_jacobsonou-org\/"}]}},"acf":[],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/168"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12598"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12598\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50864,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12598\/revisions\/50864"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}