This was a very hard week. The devastation surrounding the death of the Bibas family stems from a confluence of deeply distressing factors including but not limited to:

• the innocence and vulnerability of children
• the violation of natural and fundamental family unit
• the circumstances of their murder of these innocent civilians
• the emotional impact of hostage situations- it is hard to imagine everything that Yarden is holding.
• the symbolism of the conflict ( we all connected to their red hair):

Watching Yarden’s eulogy this week took the wind right out of me. In essence, the death of the Bibas family is devastating because it combines so many of these issues and is a microcosm for our feeling of loss at the Jewish people.

I was thinking about the Bibas and our larger Jewish families when reading Terumah, this week’s Torah portion. Here we start getting the blue print for the Tabernacle. There is a clear plan for what will be built and made, but that is not where they start off this large-scale project. Rather, they start off with themselves. As we read:

‘Speak to the children of Israel, that they take for Me an offering; of every man whose heart makes him willing you shall take My offering.( Exodus 25:2)

While their gifts are going to fit into a very clear and focused plan, their gifts were not all the same. The gifts were not of the same value, but all valuable because they were from the heart. At the center of our national narrative is a collaborative non-profit project that celebrates the diverse offerings of every individual while working toward a common goal. And about this project God says:

And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. (Exodus 25:8)

The text does not say “make this building so that I can dwell in it“- the Tabernacle, but rather in “them”. When building the Tabernacle we were building a place for God to be with us. We are identified by what we give. How might we be identified by what we give?

I was thinking about this question when I saw this iconic cartoon of Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh:

This is true. Our greatness is not just what we have , but what we give. In this week’s Torah portion our greatness is the we give freely to build a home for God. And when we do this God does not just dwell in the house we made God, but rather, God dwells in us. We are identified as divine givers.

In a deep way I think we saw that this week in the street in Israel. Mourners in Israel gathered on the streets to pay tributes ahead of the funeral of Shiri Bibas and her two young sons Kfir and Ariel, who were taken hostage in the October 7 Hamas-led attack and killed in Gaza. Watch the report

While it might seem trivial, thousands and thousand of our people came to the street to give of themselves to pay tribute to this family. The people of Israel wanted to identify with the Bibas family because we all feel part of the Jewish family. We stand together as a family because we are a family. While people want to hate us for being Jewish, these moments reaffirm for me why I love our people. May the memory of the Bibas family be for a blessing and remind us to always act as a family. When we act as a family, look after each other, and give freely to each other, God dwells among us.