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Different is Strength

05/12/2022 08:13:05 AM

May12

Rabbi Sam Trief

At the urging of our beloved Preschool Director, Miss Jamah, I submitted our daughter Maayan to the Gerber Baby Competition. Yes, like many (most!) others out there, I think my kids are pretty cute.

I personally could not think of a more exciting role for my daughter: to work with Gerber to taste-test baby food products before they are released to the market.

While admittedly, a bit self-indulgent, I really thought Maayan had a shot. 

However, to my slight disappointment, I learned this week that, alas, she did not win. Rather, Isa Slish of Edmond, Oklahoma, was named the 2022 Gerber Spokesbaby. Gerber included a noteworthy tidbit of information when announcing her selection: Isa was born without a femur or a fibula in her right leg.

Upon hearing this news, as any good Rabbi is always doing, I was simultaneously studying Torah.

Our Torah Portion, Emor, this week cautions the people of Israel that any sacrificial animal must be unblemished, without defect. Anything blind, or injured, or maimed, or with a cyst, boil-scar, or scurvy— such you shall not offer to the Lord. (Lev 22:22)

In addition, in our parashah there’s a list of physical characteristics that might occur in a person’s body. These are called mumim. If a priest had one of these characteristics, he was prohibited from performing rituals in the Mishkan.

Rabbi Meir of Rothenberg (the Maharam) made an important point about mumim, these specific physical characteristics. They might have prevented a priest from performing the service in the mishkan, but these characteristics do not disqualify a person from becoming a prayer leader.

It is obvious that this person is more than fitting to be a prayer leader or shaliach tzibbur. In fact, the Maharam teaches that the mitzvah is even better when done by this person, because when we pray, God wants us to reach out from a place of brokenness. In fact, the Maharam says that physical difference is an advantage in prayer.

This Shabbat, we think about the elements of uniqueness that we ourselves possess and we wonder how might these be valuable qualities when praying to God?

And while I find discomfort with the words of our Torah portion - and am frustrated by its insistence that we only offer that which is seemingly perfect on the outside, I am moved by the Maharam's interpretation of these Torah verses, and the Torah that the Gerber Baby Competition teaches us this week. 

If you can find something within you that is different, that might be the best place to lead from, to teach from, to pray from... And as Isa’s proud parents remarked: “We hope Isa’s story can bring more awareness for limb differences and create greater inclusion for children like her," Meredith said. "Because, just like Isa, they, too, can be or do anything they want." This Shabbat, we remind ourselves that different is good, that different is interesting, that different is strength.

Shabbat Shalom!

Thu, March 28 2024 18 Adar II 5784