When I became a mother I spent a great deal of time choosing the perfect stroller. 

I researched and investigated till I made my choice. 

I finally bought the stroller of my dreams. 

I hated it.

The stroller was clumsy and hard to manage, unwieldy and annoying, but I had to live with my choice for a long time - at least until I could justify buying a better model. 

Any Mom can relate to my story. 

That is perhaps why the images of the empty baby strollers left by Moms for Moms at a train station in Poland, reduced me to tears. 

It’s 2022!

How could we be so quickly thrown back in time when mothers have become refugees overnight, escaping war and random destruction with their babes in arms and nothing else. 

My own dear Mother ran from Germany in summer of 1939. She was a young child, and she and her parents escaped, almost at the last minute. 

When they reached the border of Germany, they were removed from the train. 

Their papers were not in order. 

My Mother still talks of the pity she saw on the faces of the passengers who remained aboard the train. She was petrified. 

The problem was corrected and they left Germany the next day. 

That was more that was more than 80 years ago. 

In the interim my Mom has lived, and please Gd will continue to live, a beautiful life. 

However, a number of years ago she shared with my a shocking statement. 

She told me that if you would wake her up in the middle of the night and ask her who she was, she said she would answer: refugee. 

So much trauma, so much loss and loneliness. 

It was only when she moved to Israel that my Mother felt she was finally home. 

This week’s Torah portion is Vayikra which means “and he called”. 

We just concluded the book of Exodus and the Tabernacle is now up and running. Until now we have been privy to the story of the birth of the Jewish nation.  The central point was the Revelation at Sinai where Gd creates closeness to the Jewish people, and the restoring of the Divine Presence to the Jewish nation, with the Tabernacle. 

Now the book of VaYikra will tell us how to create that closeness. 

Unlike Genesis and Exodus, there is very little storyline in Leviticus or VaYikra. 

We are taught the details of all the ritual sacrifices that are brought. 

The Hebrew word for a sacrifice is Korban. It’s actually somewhat mistranslated as a sacrifice. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, 19th century Torah leader, teaches, that the Hebrew word korban really  means “drawing close”.  

(The Hebrew word for a relative is Karov, from the same letters)!

These offerings are the means of drawing the Jewish people and Gd closer together. 

So now that Gd is dwelling amongst the Jewish people we will be taught the laws and rituals necessary to preserve this relationship. 

When we try to create a relationship with someone we try to figure out what is important to them. 

The only way to really figure that out is to care enough to know what a person will need. 

It seems like Gd likes offerings. 

If we want to be in a relationship with Gd, that’s what we do. 

But does Gd need anything from us at all?

Does Gd “like” anything at all?

When a person brings an offering, they are supposed to be bringing part of themselves. 

If they are repenting or celebrating, the ritual is a manifestation of bringing the best of themselves to the relationship. 

What Gd wants from the offering is US. 

He wants us to care enough to bring the best of ourselves to repair or to repent, to celebrate or connect. 

Because the more you bring of yourself  the more you will feel grateful and that will bring you to giving and to closeness and understanding of the other. 

Gd calls out to Moses in the beginning of the Parsha in a loving,  caring manner. 

Rashi the major Torah commentary says this calling was so loving it is comparable to way angels call out to one another in holiness, loving and caring. 

It is the loving,  caring way that spiritual energy connects. There is no agenda here, just the desire to be close, to be connected to the other, to care. 

How can we even begin to deal with this trauma of war?

All we can do is treat each other with love and caring. 

We must reach out to one another with the greatest humanity. 

We can be inspired by JRoots and our own teacher and tour leader from our Jwcatlanta Poland trip, Tzvi Sperber, who is on the ground as we speak, bringing generators, blankets, food and comfort to the refugees as they escape the horrific onslaught of war. 

We can be comforted by  Rabbi Avi Baumol, who we also met in Poland, who has set up the Krakow JCC as a major center of aid and relief to the thousands of refugees who are flooding into Poland. 

These are the “angels” who are calling out in a loving way, extending the most  meaningful care, bringing close,  those, who in 2022, have become the victims of a cruel war. 

(If anyone is interested in contributing to their efforts I will post a link for contributions.)

The journalist who reported on the  incredible “angels” (otherwise known as mothers) who so thoughtfully provided the strollers at the station in Poland for the refugee moms, was moved by their gesture. 

But, apparently, she too had a stroller that she disliked. 

And when she looked closely at the photograph she  recognized “her” stroller, the “same style and color” on the Polish train platform waiting for an occupant, she broke down and sobbed. 

It brought it all very close. 

It is only by “drawing near”, being Karov, and feeling like a Karov, like a relative , and calling out with love, will we be able create eternal closeness. 

It is only that type of caring  that will get us through. 

Ask any Mom! 

Shabbat Shalom and so much love!