Despite the heat, they continued to want more! I heard things like, “That thing made a really good chulent great…. I can’t get enough”, “That pepper shook my core…like fire throughout my body”, “That sure was Hot…I am sweating…but I want more!”, “You have changed my palate forever”, and my personal favorite, “Wow, I can’t believe such a small piece can be so powerful!”
I will admit that the parallel of tasting the heat of the habanero to tasting the heat of the Torah did not come to me until some days later. Then it hit me hard…and the more I thought and the more of my thoughts I shared, the more the link materialized.
Yes…small doses of something new and potent, a penetrating fire that strikes your core, a life altering experience leading to a permanent change, and finally an insatiable craving for more. Indeed, that is how it feels to taste the fire of one of the world’s hottest peppers for the first time. And that is also how it feels, albeit on a much higher echelon and with a different type of sweat, to taste the fire of the Torah!
David Gruber lives in Wesley Hills with his wife and three children. He can be reached at [email protected]
