09/04/2026
โ ๐ก๐ถ๐๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐บโ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ถ๐น๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ต โ
When something matters deeply to us, our instinct is often to preserve it.
Hold onto it.
Protect it from change.
Keep it true to what it has always been.
But sometimes, keeping something exactly the same is how we allow it to stop living.
At the very end of Mosheโs life, after 612 mitzvot have already been taught, the final mitzvah is:
โNow therefore write this song for yourselves.โ
Not simply remember what was given.
Write it for yourselves.
Every generation would inherit the same Torah, but every generation would also have to receive it into a different world. Ask new questions of it. Apply it to new circumstances. Bring its wisdom fully into the lives of each new generation.
Its truth would endure.
๐๐๐ ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ถ๐ ๐ฎ๐น๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐๐น๐ฑ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐พ๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐ฎ๐น.
The same is true of so much that matters to us.
Relationships have to keep growing as the people within them grow.
Parenting has to evolve as our children do.
Even the values and beliefs that ground us may deepen and take new shape as experience changes us.
We donโt preserve these things by freezing them in the form in which we first received them.
๐ช๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฒ๐๐๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ฎ๐น ๐ฏ๐ ๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ถ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ด๐ฟ๐ผ๐.
As we come to the end of the Jewish year, there is so much we want to carry forward.
Traditions. Relationships. Commitments. Values. Parts of ourselves we have no desire to leave behind.
But carrying something forward does not mean keeping it untouched.
If it matters enough to bring with us, it also matters enough to keep alive.
To let it deepen.
To let it respond to who we are becoming.
To renew it without losing what made it worth preserving in the first place.
๐ฆ๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐บ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐ป๐ด๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ถ๐ ๐ต๐ผ๐ ๐๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ถ๐๐ต๐ณ๐๐น ๐๐ผ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐บ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐.
โจ As Shabbat approaches, may we have the wisdom to recognize what is worth carrying forward, the courage to let it keep growing, and the clarity to preserve what is essential without asking it to remain frozen in the past.
Shabbat Shalom. ๐ค
