Shabbat shalom!

To start off my D’var Torah I’m going to tell you a short-ish story. For me, one of the first times I felt a strong connection to my Judaism was in the second grade. At this time, it was right before Winter Break. The teacher was passing out riddle worksheets, which of course just so happened to revolve around a Santa joke. I refused to do the worksheet given to me because I did not believe in Santa and after all, I was Jewish. My teacher took me to the principal’s office and I called my parents. The principal eventually had my parents come in and talk about why I didn’t want to participate in the class activity. My parents and I agreed that it was unfair to be forced to do worksheets with religion involved and convinced my school to remove all worksheets, class activities, and homework assignments that singled out a faith or belief.

My Torah portion, R’eih, teaches a lot about Jewish traditions that help us link ourselves to our Jewish identity. For me, three elements in this portion that really stand out are: celebrating holidays with family, friends, and religious school, the meaning behind kashrut, and having a central place where all Jews can feel at home: Israel.

Joining as a family to prepare and eat meals for the holidays is my favorite way of being Jewish. In addition to Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot that were mentioned in my parsha, Hanukkah and the High Holy Days link me to my Jewish Identity.  The feeling of all of my family being around a big table eating amazing food that my mom and I made from scratch has such a positive effect on me. I love bonding with my mom as we cook delicious courses for our guests. By being in this synagogue with all of my friends, we create everlasting memories that will travel with us into adulthood.

Being with my close friends and family, spending quality time together around the Jewish holidays, helps to conserve my Jewish identity and make me feel closer to G-d.

The tradition value I see in kashrut is very important. The part that stands out in the many rules of keeping Kosher was the quote, “You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk,” from Deuteronomy chapter 14 verse 21. In the Torah it states that by keeping Kosher you cannot mix the milk and the meat of animals into a dish. As a vegetarian, this is not usually a problem for me.  I mostly am Kosher, but don’t practice it consciously. However, I would think that being kosher and separating the meat from the milk does bring people closer to Judaism.

The land of Israel is very significant to us as Jews.  This portion repeatedly refers to “The place where the Lord your G-d will choose.”  Numerous activities in the life of the Jewish people must occur in this place.  This establishes Jerusalem as the religious and national center of the Jewish people.

Today, Israel is a place where we can feel at home. I feel it is very important, for me, to visit Israel at some point in my life and I hope to visit the Western Wall as soon as I can go on Birth Right. Having a main place where Jews can be joined together is quite important.

To wrap it up, Jewish Identity can be felt in many ways and is different for each person. For me the big three from this portion that I connect with are celebrating the holidays with the people that matter to me the most, the significance of kashrut, and the central place of gathering the Jewish people. Concluding my D’var Torah, I want to leave you thinking with a question, what ways do you connect to your Jewish Identity?
Shabbat shalom.