Holy hair cut

It was not quite time for a haircut, though some hair was fast approaching the top of my ears, but the opportunity for an all American haircut was too much to pass.  In Israel, a friend or the local barber cuts my hair in a simplistic, yet effective way.  But, I decided to pamper myself with a more sophisticated haircut.  Several blocks from my parent’s apartment sat a Supercuts with over twenty stalls.  Despite the inconspicuous hour, right smack in the middle of the work day, I had a fifteen minute wait before my grooming.  Finally, my turn arrived and a plain looking fifty year old with a perfectly plain expression on his face, neither particularly happy nor particularly sad, and plain brown hair took the reins. 

                In the mood for a shmueze, I asked how long he’d been a hair dresser.  It turned out I was in very experienced hands, since 1986, and he had studied several years at beauty school (found out they even need to study anatomy there).  To my surprise, despite his education and experience, Supercuts required an extra education when he joined them many years later. Granted, Supercuts looked like a successful establishment, but I didn’t understand why such experience and knowledge of the human hair would be wasted at the equivalent of a fast food hair-cutting chain.   Wasn’t it time to move to the ritzy world of the beauty salon? 

When I asked him, the answer he gave surprised me. Indeed, he had dabbled in that world for a period of time, but he said she could not sleep at night knowing the truth.  He explained that there are five basic types of haircuts possible- that’s it! It is not rocket science, and to think that these salons should charge seventy five dollars for exactly the same thing he could provide at Supercuts for twenty dollars was not something he could tolerate morally.  Who knew such people still existed, especially given the following?

   It turns out, those mitzvahs we often do begrudgingly, if at all, are meant to come from a passionate place.  Why?  The root of the word Mitzvah, is צו, or inspired act.  We are introduced to this definition in this week’s Torah portion where the Priests are ‘commanded’ or ‘ וצו’ to bring the burnt offering.  On the spot, Rashi inquires as to the reason why the language of צו is used here as opposed to the myriad of other places were commands are given without this explicit language.  Rashi answers that the Priest loses money on this offering because he does not get a portion of meat; therefore, he needs to be reminded to act with inspiration, since inspiration to do the mitzvah will not come as naturally. 

Even the holy Priests needed to be reminded that it is not all about the money, but that doing the right thing itself is inspirational.  How refreshing it is to see that lived in the unlikeliest of places, Supercuts.