NOVEMBER 26 • 2020 | 31
SPIRIT
Go in Peace
W
hen I started my
rabbinic school
year in Israel in
2010, my first trip to Jerusalem
was spellbinding.
My adopted Israeli family
had kindly offered to
pick me up at the air-
port and then hosted
me for a few days at
their home in Rehovot.
They then (again, very
kindly) drove me and
my two giant suitcases
into my new home city.
As we approached
Jerusalem, there was
a final highway ascent
before we passed huge
stone letters forming
a sign on our right:
Bruchim Haba’
im, or “welcome”
in English. I loved seeing this
Hebrew monument — and
only loved it far more when,
on my first exit from the
city, I saw there was a corre-
sponding goodbye sign which
read Tzeitchem L
’
shalom, “go
in peace.
” While “bruchim
haba’
im” is, of course, in
Hebrew (and was, therefore,
exciting), it is also a rather
basic everyday phrase —
while “tzeitchem l’
shalom”
is from a higher linguistic
register, as well as making
an obvious reference to our
Shalom Aleichem prayer that
many Jews around the world
recite every Shabbat evening.
Reading that sign, I felt like I
knew a special insider secret
and delighted in the living
Jewish text by the side of the
road every time I passed it by.
This sign immediately
sprang into my mind as I
opened this week’
s parshah,
whose first word and title is
Vayetze — a different con-
jugation of that same verb
from the sign, to go out or to
exit. This word has taken on
a different tone in the age of
COVID. I was struck by how
the portion is bookended by
Jacob’
s freedom to go
out, to change locations
— all maneuvers increas-
ingly complicated if not
downright dangerous
to perform today. Never
before has that opening
verse (Genesis 28:10:
“Jacob left Be’
er Sheva
and set out for Haran”)
held my attention for
longer than an instant.
But this year it reads
differently. There is
definitely a sad note as
it reminds us of what we can’
t
do, of what’
s been lost in this
moment. But perhaps this text
is also an awesome reminder
of the spirit of love and indeed
pikuach nefesh (saving a life)
with which we can redefine
our staying in.
This Thanksgiving week is
a difficult one to be restricted
in our movement. I am dis-
appointed not to be joining
my family for our annual
Thanksgiving get-together in
Wilmington, N.C. But it is an
act of devotion to community
to forego the fun rather than
risk getting someone ill.
I hope that soon we will be
going out just like Jacob again
— without having to give it
a second thought. But in the
meantime, when you must go,
tzeitchem l’
shalom — may you
go in peace, with your masks
and your hand sanitizer, and
return safe and healthy.
Rabbi Megan Brudney is a rabbi at
Temple Beth El in Bloomfield Township.
TORAH PORTION
Rabbi Megan
Brudney
Parshat
Vayetze:
Genesis
28:10-32:3;
Hosea 12:13-
14:10.
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