The Holiness of One Thing at a Time

Solomon Berezin
7 days ago
5 min read

Why making coffee taught me more about serving G-d than rushing to my sefer (prayer book) ever could.

Over the past three weeks I was visiting my family in Houston. Here I was in a place distant from what I have in my backyard in Brooklyn.

Being away from Brooklyn meant I wasn’t surrounded by shuls, minyanim (congregations for prayer), or my usual rhythm. For the first time in a while, my mornings unfolded entirely on my own schedule.

At first, it led to taking my time with meditation, exercise, mikveh, learning, as well as praying. Then, I quickly realized (as in prior articles) this approach wasn’t helping. Even though I had time on demand, taking the less is more approach aided in feeling healthier, lighter, present, flexible, and aligned.

Every morning felt calm until I got home (I stayed next door at an abnb). The moment I walked through the door my shoulders raised, my breathing became shallow, and the tension felt tighter. I wasn’t behind schedule. No one was waiting for me.

Yet it felt as though I had to begin learning immediately.

I drew on everything I’d learned through meditation, metacognition, somatic healing, and prayer, trying to understand where this tension was entering an otherwise calm and flexible morning.

But I was not recognizing what the pain was teaching me.

Then, by surprise, one day I spotted where the anxiety was showing up.

This time it wasn’t in how I was performing each activity, but in between activities.

The anxiety wasn’t inside meditation. It wasn’t inside prayer. It lived in the transition between them.

I would make it home where I would learn and pray. Usually I would make a cup of coffee prior to sitting and learning. However, I was noticing that there was this feeling inside of me that as soon as I made it to my home (or wherever I was learning and praying) I had to begin learning or reciting preparatory prayers.

That was it. Each activity prior - meditation, mikveh - was one thing at a time, but here I felt a coercion to grab the learning immediately.

My coffee was brewing, but there was a feeling of needing the book in my hands. It was like this limited belief of “if I don’t do it now, it won’t happen later,” or a fear of missing out.

Yet, that morning I noticed it and took a deep breath. Instead, when I was making coffee I was fully involved in the process of making coffee - not even listening to a class.

Even the movement toward a mitzvah can be mindful rather than anxious. It can be rhythmic rather than running to the next thing or doing the next thing while doing an otherwise mundane thing, like making coffee.

Presence isn’t merely a wellness practice.

It is the space where we meet G-d.

If I’m physically making coffee but mentally already learning, then I’m not fully present for

either.

Every moment is its own invitation to connect.

The Sages in the Gemara emphasize that the main thing is “kavod rosh,” (lit a heavy head) meaning a calm and clear mind before prayer (Gemara Brachos 30b).

This often comes with doing one thing at a time. Not only did I learn a healthier approach of less is more with these activities, but also to be fully involved with one thing.

The way we do one thing is the way we do everything. So if I’m making coffee but trying to make the most of the in brewing time by learning, I may not actually be learning. I have the opportunity simply to make coffee. Ironically, that presence prepares me to learn more deeply once I sit down.

This is a key idea in Judaism. The Torah emphasizes that we don’t combine mitzvahs nor holidays.

In Talmud Bavli Sotah 8a, it states:

We do not make two suspected adulteresses drink at once; we do not purify two people with tzara’at (skin disease) at once; we do not pierce the ear of two slaves [who want to stay with their master] at once; we do not break the neck of two calves [in response to an unresolved murder] at once—because we do not do mitzvot in bundles.

There is a general principle that one does not perform mitzvot in bundles, as one who does so appears as if the mitzvot are a burden upon him, and he is trying to finish with them as soon as possible.

In another place, it emphasizes that a person who is occupied with the performance of one mitzvah is free from the obligation of performing others (Rashi, Zevachim 19a).

Not only do we have no multi-mitzvah-ing, but multi-tasking is a myth.

Brain coach and author, Jim Kwik, shares that multi-tasking is actually task-switching. He explains that research shows one cannot do two cognitive activities at once. We think we’re gaining time - by doing multiple things - but we’re actually losing it! Every switch requires the brain to redirect energy, making us feel mentally drained rather than productive.

The mental drain and heaviness we feel may be because we’re trying to do too many things at once.

If you feel anxious in the mornings like I do and you feel you have to get things done, there might be ways around it.

Aim to do one thing at a time. I might take this as far to mean even when you technically can do one cognitive activity and one physical activity together.

A mitzvah is a portal to connect with G-d. מצוה לשון צוותא וחבור - Mitzva is an idiom of tzavta meaning “joining” and “attachment” (hayom yom 8 Cheshvan).

Every moment one has an opportunity to connect with G-d. How? By being fully present in the moment.

We often think holiness begins when we open the siddur or the sefer (book).

But perhaps holiness begins when we’re making the coffee that prepares us to learn.

If G-d is found everywhere, then there is no transition before spirituality begins.

This has changed even seemingly productive habits for me.

Sometimes I’d listen to a class while walking to yeshiva or speed up recordings to fit more into the day. There’s nothing inherently wrong with either. But I noticed they could come from subtle anxiety rather than genuine intention.

Lately I’ve been experimenting with something different in the mornings.

Walking to yeshiva is for walking.

Learning is for learning at yeshiva.

Making coffee is for making coffee.

And somehow, each has become richer.

Here are some tips to help you make the most of your morning:

One thing at a time. Besides all the positive habits and actions I write about - meditation, mikveh, learning, prayer - each morning, when you’re involved with one, even if for a short time period, be all in.
Don’t use your phone for the first hour of the day. We all know that the smart phone has so many pieces of information on it. In one glance I see these people texted me, this notification, that event, and all of a sudden my attention is spread out in many directions.
Leave intentional space between activities instead of rushing into the next one. Take breaks. Go on walks, allow your mind to wander, without another activity. It’s okay, even sometimes better, to not have to do something.

To summarize in three points: