Closing Message - Rav Steven
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Reunions – what will they feel like?
There are multiple instances of reunions in the Torah, and Moshe’s reunion with Tzipporah at the beginning of Parashat Yitro offers us a model for what I hope our increasingly happening and nearing reunions – with loved ones, family and community – should look like, and why they of course depend on what happens when we are apart.
At the beginning of this week’s parashah, Yitro, we are told that Yitro goes to Moshe upon hearing of God’s deliverance of the Jewish people, and we read:
וַיִּקַּ֗ח יִתְרוֹ֙ חֹתֵ֣ן מֹשֶׁ֔ה אֶת־צִפֹּרָ֖ה אֵ֣שֶׁת מֹשֶׁ֑ה אַחַ֖ר שִׁלּוּחֶֽיהָ׃
Yitro, Moses’ father-in-law, took Tzipporah, Moses’ wife, after he had sent her away.
Sent her away?! Last we knew, Moshe and Tzipporah and their children were headed to Egypt to free the Jewish people. But this verse says that Moshe had sent her away. Indeed, the Hizkuni acknowledges that were it not for this verse, we would never have known that Moshe sent Tzipporah away.
The commentaries fill in the gaps, suggesting, among various readings, that upon their arrival in Egypt, as Moshe took in the singular task that faced him in this unique moment, he sent Tzipporah and their children to Yitro’s home for this short-term overwhelming period.
There’s no doubt that time apart was painful and difficult. But the Torah only tells about it after the fact. Why?
Perhaps it’s to tell us that the relationship was strong enough – even from afar – that the story to tell is not about the separation, but about the being together.
In the last year, we’ve had to be separate in ways we never imagined, for stretches of times we never imagined. When we nourish those distanced relationships in all the ways we can, not allowing the separation to define them, then the reunions will tell the story of the togetherness, and the separation becomes a mere footnote to the story.
May we keep keeping connected in all the ways we can, and may we be blessed to have those physical reunions healthily and soon.
Reminder to all to take good care of ourselves and each other. Try to do something specific today that strengthens you, and something else that strengthens someone else.
