Courtesy of Chabad.org
A WEEKLY TORAH THOUGHT BY RABBI MORDY
This week we have a double Parsha (Achareimot-Kedoshim) so there is no shortage of material. They include many laws and stories so it’s not too hard to find one that resonates and can connect to this moment. This week includes what Rabbi Akiva calls “the great principle of the Torah,” the commandment to “love your fellow as yourself.” It’s a fundamental lesson we try and teach our children(sharing is caring!), but to truly embody this commandment requires much more than superficial gestures. A healthy community needs a foundation of commitment, creativity, and humility—and more. We at Friendship Circle are always looking for new opportunities for inclusivity and in the past five years, we have seen something shift. We have been largely focused on love for your fellow man, but there is an increasing need to love one’s self. To really be a community in which we are responsible for one another, or even greater than that, where we truly love each other, we need to focus on love for ourselves as well. If I am not loving myself, I can’t properly look out for you and love you. The work can be done simultaneously, but one should not preclude the other; we need to love our fellow and we need to love ourselves. We started Friendship Circle to generate love for our “fellow” and now see the importance of the Beacon as a place to foster self-care and wellness, and Bunny Bakes as an inclusive social setting for people of all abilities. The love just keeps growing—and we’ll celebrate it all on May 18th at our Friends All Around event, so if you haven’t reserved yet, please do! Our hope and prayer is that we all, individually and collectively, can love our fellow as oneself and take it with us into the world! Good Shabbos!