Shampoo Torah

Like many others I know, I often do my best thinking in the shower. Maybe it's the water washing away all of my cooties, maybe it's the great acoustics and i can sing, daven, and chant my heart out, maybe it's the fact there are no to-do lists in the bathroom and i'm free from obligations (other than soap and shampoo), and maybe it's the fact that the bathroom is the cleanest room in my house. Whatever it is, inspiration often comes in the shower.

Last week, following the Hazon Food Conference, I stayed at the home of the ever-fabulous Josie Lehrer in San Francisco. As is my daily custom, I hopped in the shower to desmellify. Because of airplane regulations, I don't travel with my own shampoo anymore (cause apparently washing your hair is bad for national security!). So I used some of Josie's shampoo. I was struck by a note on the bottle, which said "Makes hair up to 85% shinier!"

85% shinier. How does the shampoo decide which hairs to make shiny and which to leave in its ordinary state? And who said I want my hair shiny anyway? But it got me thinking - how does it choose? And what does it mean to be chosen? We Jews are known as the Chosen People. But what if our chosenness is of the same ratio as shampoo? What if only 85% of us get chosen? Who decides? Does chosenness come with obligations? Do we have to do something to be chosen? The midrash says only 10% of the Israelites left Egypt to become part of the Jewish people at Mount Sinai. So clearly it is somewhat self-identifying. We have to choose to be chosen.

In today's world, no one tells us we have to do any Jewish activity.
Ultimately, we are all Jews by choice. Other than paying taxes and rent and utilities, there's really not anything I have to do. So almost every action I make is a choice. I choose to be shiny. I choose to be a vessel for love, life, joy, truth, and spirit. What do you choose?