D'Var Torah: Shemini

This week’s Torah portion is Shemini. Many important teachings happen in this portion, but the one that stands out for me are the laws of Kashrut. A detailed description of the laws of ritual defilement regarding animal carcasses is given. An instruction of how we should eat and a list of forbidden foods are recorded. God set out a specific way and a path for the Jewish people by commanding a dietary regimen that an entire culture would follow. Following these dietary laws would solidify the survival of the Jewish people. Kashrut kept Jews separate and the regimen was intense. It took a person a lot of discipline to follow. An entire community of people was needed to follow this commandment. Jews would have to band together and help each other to be successful at it. Keeping Kosher is a commandment from God. Kashrut teaches us respect for life. Kashrut teaches us that we can’t always have everything we want. Keeping Kosher has helped keep Jews as a unique people and is a tradition observed by our recent ancestors. It links us to them.

Keeping and holding to rules impacts our lives each day as Directors of early childhood programs. After reading the explicit description of Kashrut, it made me think about the boundaries and rules we set forth for the children, parents and teachers in our schools. It made me reflect about what kind of community we should create for our young Jewish people. Rules are important and help us keep our values and mission in line. Questions to think about are: What do we think are the most important rules in our schools? What rules are we not willing to bend? What rules are there to protect the children in our programs and the teachers who work for us? What traditions and customs in our schools makes us Jewish? Having a clear set of rules is extremely important and how we communicate them even more important. Our rules, and there can be many of them, can seem overwhelming to some….but extremely important to running an effective and professional Jewish early childhood program. We should be mindful of these rules when we interact with parents. From the parents who we have the easiest and loving interactions with and the parents who we have difficult interactions with. As long as we are clear, consistent and communicate effectively and lovingly, our programs will grow strong – just as the laws of Kahsrut made our early Jewish people.

Dale Laing
Director
Zipporah S. Abramson Center For Early Childhood Education at Congregation Beth Or
ECE-RJ, Ritual Chair