APRIL 22 • 2021 | 27
Amelia Jane Lippitt
will chant from the
Torah on the occa-
sion of her bat
mitzvah at Temple
Israel in West
Bloomfield on Saturday, April
24, 2021. She will be joined in
celebration by her proud par-
ents, Denise and Ron Lippitt,
and siblings Maureen and
Caroline. She is the loving
grandchild of Elaine and David
Lippitt, Marjie and Steve Ziff,
Linda and Ken Rudisel, and the
late Don Messing.
Amelia attends Clifford
H. Smart Middle School in
Commerce Township. As part
of her mitzvah project, she
found joy in participating in a
letter-writing campaign for res-
idents of assisted living via the
United Way of Michigan.
Emma Claire
Schwartz, daughter
of Naomi and
Nicholas Schwartz,
will chant from the
Torah as she
becomes a bat mitzvah at
Temple Israel in West
Bloomfield on Saturday, April
24, 2021. She will be joined in
celebration by her siblings Levi
and Avi and her proud grand-
parents Sandy and Paul
Schwartz, and Mary and Robert
Garver.
She is a student at West
Bloomfield Middle School in
West Bloomfield. For her mitz-
vah project, Emma partnered
with the United Way and raised
donations to purchase essential
baby supplies for local needy
families. She was able to provide
two months of baby supplies to
30 area families.
Benjamin Elliott
Sherman, son of
Lisa and Mark
Sherman, will
chant from the
Torah on the occa-
sion of his bar mitzvah on
Friday, April 23, 2021, at Temple
Israel in West Bloomfield. He is
the loving grandchild of Carol
and Gary Kushner, the late
Sandy Brenner, the late Denny
Brenner and the late Murray
Sherman.
Benjamin is a student at West
Hills Middle School. He orga-
nized a raffle to raise funds for
an animal rescue organization
as part of his mitzvah project.
Skylar Alexandra
Thurswell, daugh-
ter of Jennifer and
Larry Thurswell,
will lead the con-
gregation in prayer
as she becomes a bat mitzvah at
Temple Israel in West
Bloomfield on Saturday, April
24, 2021. Joining in her celebra-
tion will be her brother Luke
and proud grandparents Lynn
and Harvey Rubin, and Gerald
Thurswell. She is also the
granddaughter of the late
Galina and Alexander Pavlov.
Skylar is a student at Derby
Middle School in Birmingham.
As part of her most meaningful
mitzvah project, she creat-
ed a Facebook event to raise
funds for the Reuben Phoenix
Schostak Congenital Heart
Center Research Fund.
SPIRIT
A Time to Mourn
and Find Strength
W
e stand today at a
liminal moment,
a moment that is
neither here nor there.
Every day, somewhere
between 3-4 million
people are getting vac-
cinated in the United
States, and we are
moving closer to the
day when we can begin
a “post-pandemic life”
(whatever that may
be for each of us). At
the same time, we are
still in the thick of a
pandemic that has
destroyed so much and
taken so many lives.
In this week’s parshah, we
receive what is one of the key
pieces that makes up the DNA
of the Jewish soul. Parshat
Kedoshim begins with the
words: “Speak to the whole
Israelite community and say
to them: ‘You shall be holy,
for I, the Lord your God, am
holy.
’” Holiness can have many
manifestations, but they all
share in that they are ways that
we, through our actions, reveal
God’s light in the world.
So, how do we, in this time
of liminality, continue to find
holiness and God’s light? Do
we mourn and focus on all
that we have lost, bringing
comfort to one another, or do
we charge forward looking at
how we can rise stronger and
more brilliant than we were
before?
Part of the answer is found
in a new understanding of the
Torah portion we read two
weeks ago, where Aaron’s two
sons are killed. When Aaron is
confronted with the death of
his sons the Torah is very terse
in describing his response:
vayidom Aharon. Most
translations render these
two words as “
Aaron
was silent.
” He was silent
because he needed to
bury his own feelings
in order to fulfil his job
of leading the people
in prayer. In this heart-
wrenching episode,
Aaron is silent.
Yet, as R. Shai Held
teaches, the root of vay-
idom is d-m-m, which
can mean to be still/
silent and can also mean
to mourn, moan or wail. Is it
possible that Aaron reacted as
we might expect any parent
whose children die? He cries
out in utter agony.
In this moment of liminal-
ity, we must find a way to live
with both meanings of vay-
idom. We all must acknowl-
edge what has been taken
from us, mentally, physically
and spiritually. We must be
able to see and empathize with
the pain that each of us feels at
different times.
At the same time, we must
drive forward, recognizing the
task which we have been given
as we recite in the second
paragraph of the aleinu l’taken
ha-olam b’malchut Shaddai
— to repair and build a better
world filled with God’s light
and a holiness that we can all
share into the future.
Rabbi Shalom Kantor is the rabbi of
Congregation B’nai Moshe in West
Bloomfield.
TORAH PORTION
Rabbi
Shalom
Kantor
Parshat
Achrey Mot/
Kedoshim:
Leviticus 16:1-
20:27; Amos
9:7-15.