An earthenware vessel ... must be shattered, but any wooden vessel may be immersed in water.
Leviticus 15:12
Allegorically, the human being, formed from the dust of the earth, is an earthenware vessel. Just as an earthenware vessel cannot be defiled by external contact with a source of defilement that does not move it, so is our inner Divine essence impervious to defilement by contact with matters external to it, i.e., the materialism of our physical world, which cannot move our Divine essence.
G-d created us as physical creatures with physical needs, and moreover, He created us such that we naturally enjoy fulfilling these needs. Therefore, He does not require us to negate this enjoyment, only to refine ourselves so that we can use the materiality of this world as means of enhancing our Divine consciousness, rather than allowing our enjoyment of materiality to impair our Divine consciousness.
In order to refine ourselves this way, it is imperative that we remain humble – considering ourselves mere “earthenware vessels,” as unassuming as the dust from which we were formed.
— Daily Wisdom 3