A picture in the Buffalo News this week perfectly captured the sadness of this time and its impact on familial relationships. In it, a small child has a hand on an exterior window as an older woman stares lovingly from inside the residence. Our heart breaks knowing that this is as close in proximity that this multi-generational interaction can safely occur.
This week’s Torah portion, Emor, features a similar sense of isolation between the priests and the rest of the Israelite population. These ancient purveyors of holiness have limits placed upon them on who they can marry, how they conduct themselves in their daily lives, and how close they can come to a dead body. Most troubling is the way they are prevented from attending funerals of even their closest relations. How familiar this feels during this time of pandemic.
The Hebrew word Kadosh, holiness, carries with it the connotation of separation and isolation. According to the Torah, what is holy, whether person or object, must be treated differently, in some ways good and in some ways bad. Today we feel only the sting of what Covid-19 has taken away from us and not any of the reward. We must ask ourselves how we can elevate our predicament into the realm of Kadosh.
Several congregants passed on a viral video featuring a father and an unseen child speaking from some point in the future about how the 2020 pandemic opened our eyes to what is really important in our lives. I’m including the link in these Torah Thoughts. Take a look and perhaps find a way to reframe our isolation as a holy endeavor.