2/14/2013
An interesting "Geico minute" caught my attention earlier today. Sir Alexander Fleming was a young bacteriologist when an accidental discovery led to one of the great developments of modern medicine on this day in 1929. Having left a plate of staphylococcus bacteria uncovered, Fleming noticed that a mold that had fallen on the culture had killed many of the bacteria. He identified the mold as penicillium notatum, similar to the kind found on bread. On February 14, 1929, Fleming introduced his mold by-product called penicillin to cure bacterial infections.
Wow. Mold, of a similar kind to those found on bread. Moldy bread, that most of us would in all likelihood consign to the dustbin. Yet, in a most fortuitous turn of events, it was discovered to contain the necessary ingredients for Penicillin. Incredibly, we are surrounded by things that we choose to believe are not necessary or useful to our lives, and it takes an incredible stroke of G-dly intervention (some would say, a stroke of "luck") to show us that we have good reason to be thankful that we do not live in a universe without bread mold.
We find a similar idea in the Torah's description of the construction of the tabernacle. The tabernacle was to be a construction of immense beauty and wealth. The tabernacle was to serve as the "grand central" of Jewish life. It was to be fashioned out of gold, silver, and copper, and a host of other materials, precious and not so precious.
The gold and silver represent wealth. They have great intrinsic value, they glitter and outshine all else. But the other implements used in this project, including the copper, would seem somewhat out of place in a building that was to exude wealth glitter and status!
Yet here the Torah lays out a blueprint for living a meaningful life: Not all that glitters is gold. and it is not only gold that glitters. G-d wants of us to "construct" a dwelling place in the physical world. This is to be accomplished by combining the material and spiritual together, and synthesizing them into a beautiful and perfect harmony. And this is achieved on all levels of our universe, utilizing all kinds of items and from all types of people.
Sure, it might take an expert to discover that what we think of as "mold", is as valuable as gold; but if today in history teaches us anything, it is that oftentimes the greatest gold glitters right there, hidden in plain sight.