Last week I should have been looking down.
This week I was looking up.
While driving home from an errand my eye was caught by an arresting sight.
Our neighborhood has been graced with a new hospital. The Arthur M.Blank Hospital, is a brand new, 19 story, 2 million square foot pediatric hospital which has recently opened.
It is a gift to the children of Atlanta and this state of the art building will be instrumental in changing many lives and saving many lives.
For those of us in the neighborhood this has meant other changes as well as the traffic has increased and the traffic patterns have shifted.
We are also in the flight path of a helicopter which carries out life saving missions while creating a new level of noise.
But today I saw things a little differently.
As I returned from my errands I happened to look up and from this different vantage point, for the first time I saw the helicopter perched at the top of the building.
It looked like a bird ready to soar. It looked steady and dependable. I fully saw this helicopter in its role as an instrument of saving life.
It actually moved me to tears as I thought about the hope and relief it would bring to a parent anxiously awaiting its arrival.
I thought that next time I hear the whirring blades of the helicopter I will focus on this sight, and remind myself that bird is on its way to change someone’s life for the better.
Maybe even save a life.
I will see it differently.
This week’s Torah portion, Ki Teitze, boasts a whopping 74 mitzvot or commandments. This is most commandments that are collected in a single portion in the Torah.
How do we view this onslaught of new commandments?
It may seem that we are now being given another 74 commandments to carry, more instructions that will just bog us down. But study of the nature of these Mitzvot opens our eyes to the beauty of Torah wisdom.
The word Mitzva shares the root of the Hebrew word ztivui which means commandment, therefore a mitzva is giving us instruction.
But, Mitzva also shares the letters of the word Tzevet which means team. When we do mitzvot we are partners with Gd, when we do these actions we put ourselves on Gd’s team to repair the world.
Our job is to look around the world, our world, and see what opportunities there are for repair.
Therefore the Parsha informs our proper attitudes on every interaction: education, relationships, work, charity, agriculture, making protective fencing and even the laws regarding lost objectives.
Yes we need to return them.
It’s a Mitzva.

I just wasn’t paying attention.
A little over a week ago I was multitasking.
That’s the word I use when I’m trying to do too many things at one time and something invariably goes amok.
I was walking, answering an email on the phone while heading to the car just a tad late for my next appointment.
And then it happened.
I stepped into a red ant pile.
For those of you who have never had the pleasure, this is an agony of a unique sort.
In less than an instant, tiny ants are everywhere, biting mercilessly.
They leave behind red, interminably itching, swollen angry welts that blister and take about a week to subside.
There was no one to blame but myself.
I had not been paying attention.
As the days passed and I dealt with the lingering after effects of that one moment, I began to think about the lessons I could learn from the experience.
Rabbeinu Yona of the 13th century, wrote a treatise about improving one’s relationship with Gd. This is a work that is usually studied during the month of Elul in preparation for the High Holidays, a time where are trying to take our relationship with Gd, and each other, to a higher level.
The book’s purpose is to guide a person with instruction and inspiration in the ongoing connection with Gd.
R Yonah teaches that a person should thank Gd for all of the successes he experiences in life. And at the same time, a person should also bless Gd for the misfortunes he undergoes as well, even if a person does not understand how a particular challenge is really beneficial.
R Yonah even teaches that when a person is in a constant state of tranquility there will be no motivation to seek improvement, but through challenge a person may look at actions done and review if they were proper or will use the challenge as a springboard for growth. He compares it to the relationship with a loving father who may chastise a child for improper behavior. While this may seem like a punishment, it’s actually a sign of love for the child, because if the parent thought the child irredeemable, the parent would not even bother with any type of process.
So even a chastisement is a sign of love, a feeling that there is much within the person which can be accessed.
The Jewish approach to challenge is not to say
“Lama?” Which means why,
Why did this happen to me?
But with a slight emphasis on a different syllable we instead may choose to say
“L’Mah” for what purpose did this happen.
So while we may not always be given the reason, we can always use the experience to focus on the avenues it may open.

We have been blessed to
be on a whirlwind tour visiting our children in their different locales.
It’s been lovely but extremely hectic and sometimes I wake up not knowing exactly where I am.
It reminds me of a movie I never saw which is entitled
“If it’s Tuesday, This must be Belgium”
It’s apparently a story of a hectic tour of nine countries over 18 days and all the mishaps that occur along the way.
The title says it all.
In the many flights and car drives we have experienced these past few weeks we have been generally fortunate to have things go smoothly.
But of course there will always be a blip that occurs.
Last week we spent three days moving one of our kids from house to house. It was quite intense. We timed our departure to the moment as we were next traveling to a wedding in another city.
Of course the flight was delayed by a number of hours due to weather which left us sprinting through the airport to try and arrive at the wedding before it was completely over.
These types of situations occur to us all regularly. It’s not a life or death situation, yet we may respond to the inconveniences with anger, frustration and vitriol to those who are unlucky enough to be in our presence.
Or, we can choose to control ourselves at that moment.
As Viktor Frankl taught us
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom”.
This week’s Torah portion which is entitled Re’eh, which means SEE, starts with this statement of choice.
At the beginning of the portion Moses tells us that Gd presents each of us with a choice between blessings that we will receive if we follow the teaching of the Torah and curses if we don’t.

It’s really hot in Israel right now. The temperature is breaking records.
Truth is summer in Israel is often a scorcher.
A few years ago I was in Israel during the summer with a few friends.
We were there to support a friend in need.
Hopefully we were successful.
When we finished our job we started walking towards our hotel.
It was a really hot day and we were not in the greatest neighborhood.
We were walking as quickly as possible.
All of a sudden, one of the group decided we really needed to hail a cab.
We had been so anxious about our surroundings that this obvious solution eluded us.
How did it come about?
It turned out, I was the unwitting catalyst.
I was wearing a newish pair of shoes. They were supposed to be comfortable, but after being on my feet and running around for many hours, my heel was starting to bleed.
One of the women in our group was walking behind me.
She noticed.
I was bearing the pain due to circumstances, but when I got into the cab, I must admit I was very relieved.
My heels were a bloody mess.
But I experience something else as well.
I felt so seen.

In the aftermath of the Holocaust, members of the Jewish clergy went to Europe to attempt to rescue children who had been given to the church for protection.
Rabbi Eliezer Silver, the Chief Rabbi of Cincinnati, volunteered for such a mission.
He traveled to monasteries and churches where it had been reported that Jewish children had been brought by desperate parents for refuge.
However when he arrived at those august institutions he was told there were no Jewish children present.
Stymied he nonetheless requested to see the children in their dormitory. As he looked at the children, many of whom would not have remembered their lives as Jews, he came upon a creative solution. Without any introduction, he roared out the words of Shma Yisroel. All of a sudden many of the little children ran up to him and clutched at his coat hem.
“Do you know my mama, do you know my father?” they cried.
The words their parents had sang to them each night as they went to sleep were forever embedded in their psyches.
Unfortunately, their parents were not returning, but they had left the eternal gift of Shma Yisroel in their children’s memory and souls.
In the 1980s there was a commercial transport plane that was flying, sans passengers, from Israel to the Netherlands. There were a crew of three aboard. The flight was taking place on Shabbos and the crew was Israeli but not Shabbat observant. The plane tragically malfunctioned and was lost en route. The investigating team was able to retrieve the black box and heard the final words of the three crew members after the Mayday signal was issued. Right before they died in the crash, the 3 yelled out the words Shma Yisroel.
At the point of their departure from the world, these three Jews called out the message of eternal faith.
In the aftermath of October 7 many stories of faith and heroism emerged.
One woman had been hiding in her safe room for many hours, fighting for survival and praying that she and her daughters would emerge unharmed from the brutal onslaught. After many hours in the safe room the Israel army, the IDF arrived. But the survivors were afraid to open the door to their saviors. They were afraid it was a trick. Those who had survived the maelstrom knew that Hamas was wily, perhaps it wasn’t really the IDF at their door.
So to convince their brethren as to their true identity, the Israeli soldiers started to call out the ancient words of Shma Yisroel, and the people inside knew they were finally safe.

As you know, last week I was in Jerusalem.
The world has become so small as we can traverse immense distances in such a short time.
Something we should not take for granted.
Now I’m driving in the mountains of the East coast and as I drive past the beautiful forests I keep wondering if I would be able to hide in those woods if Gd forbid the need would arrive. I’ve always had that mentality and JWC Atlanta’s recent trip to Poland and the current climate just reinforces that outlook.
But I digress, last week I was in the holy city of Jerusalem.
On Friday afternoon I went to the Kotel, the Western Wall, for some moments of prayer and introspection. As I was leaving the Kotel Plaza I saw a beautiful and poignant sight.
There was a group of people surrounding an older man. As I watched I saw the man, clearly the patriarch of the family, giving blessings to all the family members. It was a boisterous and happy group of adults, men and women, people of all ages and stages, each respectfully and joyfully approaching the older man for a blessing. He was conferring the blessing we give our children Friday nights and as they probably would not all be together Friday night, he was giving the blessing then.
As I watched the lively and loving procedure I felt a deep pang.
I missed my Father.
I missed that I don’t get a blessing from him every week anymore.
I stood to the side (hopefully they didn’t notice me watching them) and I felt a deep sadness.
I even considered approaching the man and asking him if I could have a blessing too because my Father is no longer with us.
Then I reconsidered when I thought of the horrified reactions my children would’ve expressed - Mom, you didn’t!
So I didn’t.

I am writing to you from Jerusalem.
That is a simple sentence but it conveys a huge reality.
Jwcatlanta just completed a trip to Poland. We went on a very intense journey guided by Tzvi Sperber of JRoots. Tzvi has an exceptional grasp of the Holocaust tragedy and shared many heartfelt messages and teachings along with all the horrific facts he imparted.
Our group of diverse Jewish women from all across Atlanta supported one another through this journey. We literally leaned upon one another as we were depleted by the horror our brothers and sisters experienced. This group came together as one as we were inspired by the strength and resilience exhibited by our brethren as they endured the most incredible brutality.
It’s a really tough journey, one which takes a long time, if ever, to fully process.
I don’t think I would have made it through without the loving family of sisters who accompanied me on this trip.
I was gifted with a personal highlight of having the opportunity to stand and pray at the grave of an ancestor,
Tzvi Hirsch Landau, who passed away in 1839 and is buried in the Warsaw cemetery. When it seemed possible to find the grave I was hopeful but having been in that part of the cemetery before, I knew it would be difficult if not impossible, to find. Tzvi told us how to recognize the grave and then had all 50 of us pan out to try and find it. At that moment I became very emotional and almost desperate to find the grave. All of a sudden there was a shout, someone had discovered it. I was so deeply grateful for the group effort and the reward was to be able to share some of my family history at the burial site of the man for whom my grandfather and son are named. It was a moment of brief but intense prayer, made all the more poignant by the presence of my family of sisters.
And then after this heart wrench of a journey, I was privileged to go on the next stop to Israel to visit my elderly Mother.
What a heart stopping privilege it is to walk out of Auschwitz to travel to the Land of Israel.
The Jews of the Holocaust would’ve done anything for the opportunity to continue on their travels, far away from planet Auschwitz.
This week’s Torah portion, a double header, is Matos/ Masei.
Wouldn’t you know it-Masei talks about journeys. It relives the trip from Egypt (latter day Auschwitz) to the Land of Israel. The Torah lists all the stops the Jewish people made along their travels.
There are many explanations given for this listing.
The Sfas Emes, a Polish Chasidic Master of the 19th century, explains some of those reasons.
He teaches us that sometimes a journey means going away from something. The Jewish people were going out of Egypt and their journey was about leaving Egypt and all the negativity it represented.

Rabbi Hillel Eisenberg shares an anecdote in his book The Parsha on Fire.
He relates that his father suffered a serious and life threatening heart attack. It was so serious that he was only given a 5% chance of survival. A few weeks after the event, his father left the hospital completely cured. Shortly after returning home, his father was walking in the neighborhood and he encountered a Jewish neighbor who had often expressed his negative views on Judaism and faith.
When they met, the neighbor told Rabbi Eisenberg’s father that he owed him a debt of thanks.
When he was met with surprise, the neighbor said when he heard about the cardiac arrest he offered a heartfelt prayer to Gd. The neighbor continued to say that Gd must have been so shocked and surprised to hear from him in an actual prayer - that Gd must have answered this powerful entreaty.
This week’s Torah portion is called Balak.
It’s an interesting reality that the Torah portion is named after a very evil person.
Balak was a true hater of Jews.
He did everything in his power to destroy the Jewish people.
(Isn’t it ironic how contemporary this story is? Virulent Jew hatred was fomenting in Biblical times and although it continues to this day we are still here surviving and thriving! Boruch Hashem)
So why should such a person be accorded the honor of having a Parsha named for him?
Not only did Balak receive an epynomous portion he received an even greater gift.
Balak had a Grandaughter whose name is Rus or Ruth.
Rus was not only one of the greatest women in Jewish history, she was also the forebear of King David and ultimately Messiach.
This is truly confounding.
Balak dedicated his life, using any means at his disposal, offering fervent prayers and multiple sacrifices to Gd, beseeching for the destruction of the Jewish people, why would he be so rewarded?
As Rabbi Eisenberg teaches us, all of of Balak’s actions were forms of passionate prayer.
“Prayer uttered in sincerity can turn Gd away from the stature of the person talking. It can overshadow previous deeds and external scenarios. The passion and meaning injected into those prayers, the fire burning in the soul of the one praying, can pierce the very heavens”.

Our family used to travel up to the Catskill Mountains to work in a summer camp. Every year part of the journey included buying fireworks.
In those days fireworks were sold in the South in warehouses, and my husband would buy a large selection to use for different parts of the summer program in camp, including July 4 festivities.
I always had a really hard time with this. The idea of transporting fireworks over state lines with a car full of children never seemed like a great idea to me.
When I look back on those halcyon days I remember myself exercising great restraint and not expressing my fears.
Until I read our family chat tonight and learned that I had shared those feelings more than I realized.
My adult (?!?) children were taking about the fireworks that were exploding in their various neighborhoods.
One asked: why was I always afraid when Dad bought the fireworks?
One after another agreed they had anxiety over those fireworks.
One of them asked why do they all have so much anxiety?
At the same moment my husband and I replied.
He wrote: not from me.
I wrote: probably from me.
Our philosophical daughter
then shared:
“It’s genetic. Generations of Jews carrying the weight of the world and the fear of threat on a consistent basis”.
Gulp. I was part of the problem. I had transmitted my fears to the next generation!
In this week’s Torah portion Moshe seems to have a fear too.
After successfully conquering a mighty king called Sichon who did not allow the Jewish nation passage through his country on the way to the land of Israel, Moses is faced with another challenge.
It would be necessary to deal with another king called Og who was also refusing passage through his land.
Gd says to Moses, “Do not fear”.
Why would Moshe be afraid?
He had just successfully dealt with Sichon who was a much more powerful adversary?
The commentator Rashi explains that Moshe was afraid because he thought that Og had a secret weapon.
What was that weapon?
It was actual a metaphysical armor.

This week’s Torah portion is called Korach.
It’s named for a man, Korach, who called into question the authority of Moses and Aaron’s leadership.
The rebellion Korach incited did not end well for him.
Gd made clear in no uncertain terms that Moses and Aaron were indeed the proper leaders.
Gd opened the earth beneath Korach and his assembly and swallowed them alive. The portion begins with the words
“And Korach took” which Rashi, the super commentary, explains to mean that Korach took himself aside.
He split away, he separated.
He removed himself from the community.
This dispute that Korach engendered was not a fight.
Instead it was the lack of understanding of the unique role belonging to each individual.
Korach felt they were all equal and many were capable of fulfilling the leadership roles.
It was not a logical disagreement, Korach forgot that there are roles designed for each person and he set his sights on someone else’s role instead of fulfilling his own.
Throughout the course of the dispute and even after the earth opened up to swallow Korach, there were a number of signs to prove that Moses and Aaron were chosen by Gd to fulfill these specific roles.
It culminated in Gd commanding Moses to instruct the leader of each Tribe to place their staffs in the Tabernacle and the one who is chosen by Gd, his staff will miraculously blossom. This will be the ultimate proof that Aaron was properly chosen to be the High Priest. The next day, it was indeed Aaron’s staff that blossomed.
When this miracle was revealed, Aaron’s rightful leadership was validated and the other leaders of the Tribe took their staffs.
Rabbi Dovid Trenk, one of our beloved teachers whose yahrzeit just passed, always spoke about the blossoming staff.
He asked, why did Gd choose this medium to relay the message?
Rabbi Trenk devoted his life to educating and caring for students who were challenged in many ways.
This portion was one of his mantras.
He said that Gd was teaching us that even a “dead” stick of wood, a severed branch which seems to be lifeless and without potential, actually has the ability to blossom and bear fruit.
Even a child who seems “dried out” and lost, is in fact a wellspring of opportunity, there is so much more than meets the eye. This seemingly dried out stick can actually be the source of greatness.