When I last wrote a D’var Torah for this portion, it was three years ago for my bar mitzvah. I was not yet thirteen by the Gregorian calendar, but in the eyes of God I was finally an adult. That was the day I was entrusted with my own future as a Jew in the local and world community, and since then I have made Judaism a premier component in my character. Since my bar mitzvah, I started bringing my own kosher lunch to school, and my family has dedicated our kitchen to kashrut, just to name a few examples.
This week’s portion reminds me that we are all entrusted with the privilege and responsibility to carry out the words of God. In this portion, God gives Moses and his Israelites a second chance after their slip-up with the Golden Calf. On this day, we finally get to keep our Ten Commandments, and a new covenant is drawn between the Israelites and God. This day in Jewish history marks the metaphorical bar mitzvah of the entire Jewish people. We are all now children of the mitzvot, of God’s words, of the commandments.
I have not always been the perfect mensch we all idealize. I’ve lied. I’ve gossipped. I’ve cheated on keeping kosher, because I can’t control myself around clam chowder. But each day is a new day, and we should all be thankful that we can wake up each day to a new sun and a new breath in our soul, for God always gives us another chance to rethink our Golden Calf moments. We’re more like sukkot than we are like the mishkan; we’re imperfect, but we all have the potential to be strong. No one, not even God, expects us to be perfect. If God did, then we wouldn’t need the Ten Commandments, and then six hundred and three more, to teach us how to behave. What matters is how we choose to move on, how we learn, and how we wake up each day ready to be better.
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