Why is it that so many of our asks as parents are met with arguments from our children? This week’s parshah may serve as a helpful reminder to parents that eventually children will recognize the limits and expectations we set for them and understand that the decisions we make are out of love.
The community you make is up to you. You set your priorities by who you connect with, and the important thing is simply recognizing the most immediate need around you first. This week’s double portion reminds us that our innermost circle of support is just one of many ways that we provide for each other.
“Mommy, if we keep Shabbat, why do YOU work on Shabbat?” The best answer is the honest one, which is yes, my job includes Shabbat, but Shabbat is about the work of our souls, not the work of our hands.
The two Torah portions we read this week remind me of a swinging pendulum. In the middle is where we find the first verse of Parshat Kedoshim: “You should be holy, because I, the Lord, your God is holy.”
Illness doesn’t mean that you’re somehow morally flawed; it means that we have work to do to bring healing. As we read this week’s double portion, we’re reminded just how important it is to be both aware of our own bodies and respectful enough of others to keep our fellow community members safe.
The laws of kashrut are inconvenient in our modern world and often challenging, and yet they fill mealtime with intention and presence instead of gluttony and indulgence.
Caring for one another - whether parent to child, child to parent, friend to friend, congregant to clergy - is a way in which we humanize, connect, and lift up those close to us. This act of mutual care appears throughout our Torah, but is poignantly described in our portion this week.
