This Shabbat, we read a double Torah portion: Tazria and Metzora. I’ll be honest, these are not easy portions to read. There are almost no stories in them, just a lot of technical rules about purity, impurity, and a strange skin disease called ‘Tzaraat’.
But hiding inside all these rules is one poetic, fascinating moment—the ceremony for a person who is healing. The ceremony of returning to the community.
The Torah describes that to bring this person back, two live, pure birds are brought. The first bird is sacrificed. That is a difficult moment, a moment of loss. But then, they take the second bird—the living bird. They dip it in living water and simply set it free. The Torah says: ‘And he shall send the living bird into the open field.’ It flies free and unrestrained into the open spaces.
When we read this on this specific Shabbat, it’s impossible not to think about the time of year we are in right now. We are in the middle of the ‘High Holy Days’ of Israeli society—the journey that starts with Holocaust Remembrance Day, moves through the immense pain of Memorial Day (which feels closer and more painful than ever this year), and reaches Independence Day.
Our journey as Israelis and as Jews is exactly the story of the two birds. The first bird is the price. It is the pain, our past, the loss we remember this week. But the second bird—the one that is set free to fly across the field—is Independence Day. It is life itself. It is our choice to keep moving forward, to grow, to live in freedom.
And when I look at us here right now… guys stopping here in the middle of their big trip in Central America, families living here in Costa Rica, people from all backgrounds sitting together in the jungle… I see the second bird.
We are flying around the world, experiencing life to the fullest, free in the open field. But we can fly so far and so high exactly because we don’t forget the first bird. Exactly because we have roots, history, and a tradition that connects us.
Beit BINA was created exactly for this moment. So that even when we fly as far as possible, we have a nest to return to. A place to light candles together, make Kiddush, speak Hebrew, and remember that even on the other side of the world, we are one community.
So I want to raise a glass to the free bird, to choosing life, and to the amazing community we have here.
Shabbat Shalom!