Tzav, this week’s Torah portion, is full of more sacrificial laws. As I discussed last week, Leviticus seems too removed from our modern realities to seem relavent. This Shabbat is also Parshat Zachor, in which we recall what Amalek did to us as we were leaving Egypt. We read this every year in preparation for Purim. Haman is assumed to be a descent of Amalek. Thinking about Purim makes me always think about how I chose to educate my children to the history of antisemitism. Do I really need to teach them about all of this? The destruction of the Temples and all of the existential crisis throughout our history. They are just children.
While very few of us truly yearn for the return of sacrifices in a Third Temple, it is hard not to covet what seemed to be simpler times as described in our Torah portion. It seems that things were so much easier at that time as compared to the layers of memory, pain, and suffering we have accumulated over history. While I realize that our lives are much better now, it seems that things have just become so complicated.
This week I have been reflecting on the earthquake, tsunami, and subsequent nuclear meltdown in Japan. Nuclear energy came to Japan in the most destructive force to date in the form of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. While this technology is incredibly destructive, it is also clear that given our current energy needs we need to realize the benefits of nuclear generators. But, as we have seen this week, there is a real risk. While we know that we cannot go back in time, again it is understandable that we might yearn for simpler times. What will the Japanese tell their children?
Said to Myself 
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