One more week until the Family Day long weekend. Do you have any plans? For many of us, staying in has been the name of the game for a couple of years now. Some people are ready to "move-on" in a world that includes Covid, whereas others are still hesitant.
Either way, since the very beginning of this pandemic I have said that Covid is similar to Kavod כבוד - honour and respect. No matter what one's perspective, it is of the utmost important to treat each other with Kavod - and to recognize that there is a Divine spark in each of us. We are each unique with unique experiences and perspectives, and we are all doing our very best to build the best world possible.
This is the last Sunday Funday for this year and Session 4 of the Bnai Mitzvah Experience's Second Unit - Cycles of Jewish Time - is also wrapping up this Sunday morning.
The more I think about and prepare for my conversation with Thornhill M.P., Melissa Lantsman, the more excited I get. You won't want to miss this "Unwoke" converstion. Let me know what is important to you!
TEENS!!! We are partnering with USY for the March Break USY Canada National Convention!
There are more new and exciting programs in the works so be sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram, as well as this space so you don't miss anything. SCROLL DOWN FOR MORE PROGRAMMING AND REGISTRATION INFORMATION!
Parshat Tetzave - Divine Design
This week's Torah reading describes what the Israelite priests would wear at the time of their divine service. Especially when discussing the garments of the high priest - the Cohen Gadol, the Torah goes into incredible details about the colour of threads, the way the garment is woven, and the very specific adornments to make sure that the Cohen Gadol would turn heads wherever he went.
In Torah, the high priest is there to serve the nation and keep them connected to HaShem. He is not considered closer to HaShem, just a person with a specific job and a specific uniform. Why should it matter if every detail of his clothing is specifically designed?
Our clothes are how we present ourselves to the world. We even change our clothes for different roles: at work I put on a dress shirt; on the weekend I dress more casually - maybe jeans and a sweatshirt; on Shabbat I wear a suit; on the basketball court I'll wear shorts; in the snow I'll wear a hat, gloves, boots and snowpants.
The uniform of the Cohen Gadol and the rest of the Cohanim reminded both the Cohanim and the rest of the nation of the specific role they had. Just like every detail of life is important, every detail of they way the Cohen dressed became important.
The same is true of our behaviour. The way we act represents who we are and what we think is important. Our actions are part of the way we "dress" ourselves in the world.
If we were all alone all the time, what we wear might not matter as much. When we are connecting to others, every detail of how we present ourselves to the world, both our clothes and our actions, becomes important.
Discussion Questions:
1. What are three different "uniforms" that you wear during the week?
2. Why do you think it is important to change your clothes for different activities?
3. Have you every judged someone based on the way they were dressed? Why did you judge them the way you did?
Discussion & Answers from last week:
1. What actions to do you do that help build the world? Every dvar Torah I write is trying to build the world. I try to teach in a way that will inspire us to improve ourselves. As we each improve and build ourselves, we each are doing our part to build the world.
2. Why does it make a difference if our inside and outside match? I think it actually depends on what is inside. If my inside is good, then of course I want my outside to match. If my outside does bad things, my good inside will feel bad about it.
If my inside is pushing me to do something destructive, then I want to make sure that my outside will still do the right thing.
3. If you had to choose, would you prefer a good "inside" or a good "outside"? Why? I think I would choose a good outside. So much of life is about what we do in the world, and I want to make sure that I am doing good in the world and hopefully that good behaviour change change my inside to be good also.
Beth Emeth Bais Yehuda Synagogue 100 Elder Street Toronto, ON M3H 5G7
