"Cling to Life."

Cling to Life

Birth and death frame the human journey —

two sacred moments at opposite ends of existence, with,

God willing,

many years in between.

When the soul departs the body,

what remains is no longer connected to the Source of life.

The body becomes tamei — impure — blocked from holiness.

Tuma’a is a spiritual disconnection.

The experience of death, and any contact with it draws us into that state —

separating us, even briefly, from God.

But it’s not only death itself that brings tuma’a.

Events that touch the edge of life — childbirth, menstruation, seminal emissions — also carry this spiritual imprint.

They are brushes with potential loss, reminders of life’s fragility.

Consider childbirth: while a baby enters the world with celebration,

the mother experiences a deep shift.

The life she once carried within her is now outside;

her womb, once full, becomes an empty space.

In the joyous separation, there is also a loss — a death of sorts —

and so she too becomes tamei.

When we encounter death or its echoes, we become blocked —

unable to access the full flow of holiness.

Yet God offers a way back.

Through the passage of time, through reflection and repentance,

through immersion in the waters of the mikveh, through a divinely orchestrated ritual we can return to tahara —

to purity and a clear, open connection to the Divine.

In the days of the Temple, the priests embodied life itself —

they were the bridge between heaven and earth.

To maintain this role,

they had to keep far from death, from graveyards, from any contact with the dead — preserving their pure channel to God on behalf of the people.

Even today, kohanim honor this ancient boundary, a living reminder that our highest work is in clinging to life.

This week’s double parsha teaches us the tension we live with every day:

between life and death, between tamei and tahor.

In a world where impurity is inevitable,

the call is not to despair — but to reconnect.

To seek out the forces of holiness.

To move steadily toward greater purity and life.

My blessing for all of us:

May we live lives ever more deeply connected to God,

to the Godliness within and around us.

And in that connection, may we bring more taharah, more light, and

more life into our world.

Much love

Elissa