* Translated by Janine Muller Sherr
The new school year is about to begin in most of the world. This week’s parasha provides us with a guide for the upcoming year—Moshe Rabbeinu’s lessons for students, parents, and teachers.
Here are a few inspiring ideas from the parasha:
“Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse.” God addresses the individual and says: Listen, you have a choice. Always. In every situation. Freedom of choice is always a fundamental principle and particularly during these challenging days. It is possible, even after emerging from a crisis, to choose to do good.
“Take care to observe all the laws and rules that I have set before you this day.”
When the nation of Israel arrives in the land of Israel, there will be no free gifts. On the contrary, they will be taking on the tremendous responsibility of observing the mitzvot. In our parasha, Moshe Rabbeinu delineates 55 of the 613 mitzvot of the Torah. Because the greatest gift you can give your children, and all of us, is not freedom but discipline and meaning.
In the days following last Simchat Torah (October 7), a school opened at Yad Vashem for children who had been evacuated from the communities near Gaza. I can’t forget how the principal who was chosen to lead this program, Shani Luria, began her address to the children: “I noticed that you left baggies and wrappers behind during recess. This will not happen again. You are the guests of Yad Vashem and from now on you will be sure to clean up after recess.”
These were children who had sat for hours in safe rooms and had found refuge in hotels. Why was she bothering them about picking up their baggies and wrappers? Shani explained to me later: “The worst thing we could do is to spoil them, have pity on them, and communicate to them that they are incapable of acting responsibly. We can and we must maintain our expectations for them, which will ultimately be for their benefit. To pick up a wrapper and trash is more important than the thousands of free play stations they will receive and the thousands of magic show they will watch at their hotels.”
“You shall now eat anything abhorrent…All winged swarming things are impure for you; they may not be eaten…You may eat only pure winged creatures.”
This parasha lists the laws of kashrut in great detail. Pig-forbidden, poultry-permitted; swarming creatures-forbidden, cattle permitted. The lofty values and teachings of Moshe Rabbeinu will not be passed down through the generations without practical applications—without finding expression on our plates, in our kitchens, in the steak we eat and the restaurants where we choose to dine.
“You shall keep Passover…the feast of Sukkot you shall keep…”
Our parasha concludes with the holidays that constitute the “steady pulse of the year.” There will always be Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot, no matter what the circumstances. These holidays act as our identity “anchors,” appointed times that fill our lives with motivation and meaning.
Finally, let us remember that next Tuesday and Wednesday is Rosh Chodesh Elul. We need this month more than ever this year: the apologies, the confessions, the reconciliation, the repentance, the rectification. A month that will mark the start of new beginnings, both on the personal and national level, is coming our way.
I wish you Chodesh Tov, Shabbat Shalom, and a school year filled with blessings.
