Parshas Ki Seitzei: Biting Off More Than You Can Chew

Often when we get excited about something, we just want to dive right in.  No matter what it is – a project, a resolution – we always want to start out perfect.

The problem is, it is often more than we can handle.  One of the most important keys to making a resolution and sticking to it is to make a resolution you can keep.  It’s all well and good to make a resolution to start exercising by going to the gym three days a week, but if you make a resolution to go to the gym seven days a week, you will soon find it impossible.  While that may be a good resolution for someone who already goes to the gym five days a week, it is not a good resolution for someone who doesn’t exercise at all.  As they say, “baby steps”!

This week’s parsha contains more mitzvot than any other parsha in the Torah – 74 all together!  That’s a lot of mitzvot!  When we look at a list like this, it seems really daunting.  It’s all well and good to resolve to keep all 74 of these mitzvot if you already keep 65 of them, but if most of them are new to you, it’s just not realistic to expect to keep them all.

People often think that Judaism is an all-or-nothing religion.  “Why keep kosher at home if we plan to eat out in non-kosher restaurants?” some people ask us.  The truth is, every mitzvah counts.  If you can start keeping kosher at home, that’s a big mitzvah! Even if you still do eat out.  Eventually, if you keep growing in your relationship with G-d, you will be able to stop eating non-kosher out as well.  It’s not being a hypocrite, as some people might claim. It’s simply taking baby steps!

G-d created us, so G-d knows what we are capable of.  We each have great potential, but we have to build up to reach it.  Just as a skyscraper is not built in a day, nor is a spiritually great person.  And along the way, G-d judges us according to our level.  G-d does not compare you to someone who is “better” than you.  You’re not being measured against Abraham or Moses.  You are being judged in comparison to yourself.

This is an important lesson to remember now that we are in the month of Elul and Rosh Hashana is approaching.  As we stand before G-d for judgment, He is not asking us to beperfect – He is asking us to be better.  Now is the time to ask ourselves, are we better than we were last year? Or are we just the same?  There is still time to make a change, to make a difference, to grow.

And as for all those commandments in this week’s parsha?  The good news is, you probably do most of them anyway! Returning a lost object, helping a neighbor in need, being kind to animals, and speedy burial of the deceased are all things we all (hopefully!) do already.  Rather than feeling overwhelmed, choose just one or two things to improve.  As this parsha reminds us, Miriam was punished for speaking badly about Moses, so too we should each work on not speaking badly of others.  Avoiding speaking and listening to gossip is a fantastic mitzvah we can probably all work on.  Let’s all grow, together!

Shabbat Shalom!

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