Potato Chips & Rebbe Pinchas of Koretz

There is a story behind most things we take for granted.

Yesterday I took my family to a factory where they make potato chips. I have eaten countless bags of potato chips in my life, but never stopped to think about how they are actually made. Most of the time I simply think of food as coming from the supermarket. It was fascinating to see the whole production process from start to finish. Workers along the conveyor belts would pick out and discard chips that were too dark in color, or chips that were salted too heavily. From its beginning as a potato until it was sealed in a bag and boxed up, each chip was given an amazing amount of attention by factory workers.

If a simple potato chip has such a story behind it, how much more so does our fellow Jew. Rebbe Pinchas of Koretz said, "Every person possesses one valuable trait that cannot be found in any other person." When looking at our fellow Jew, we should not just look at what is external. We need to look beneath the surface and be sensitized to his or her feelings. We need to know that within every Jew there is a holy and pure neshoma.

It is sad to think a potato chip may sometimes be given more attention than a human being.

Watching the potatoes being turned into potato chips, I thought about the saying of the Baal Shem Tov ....everything one sees or hears contains a lesson in how to serve Hashem.