In this week’s Torah Portion, Ki Tavo, the Israelites are told of the blessings they will receive if they follow the Torah and the curses they will be subject to if they do not follow the laws of the Torah. Among the blessings is one that has received a fair amount of attention from commentators, “You shall be blessed in the city, and you shall be blessed in the field” (ברוך אתה בעיר ברוך אתה בשדה). The Ben Ish Chai, a 19th century Rabbi from Baghdad explained this blessing in the following way:

There are times when a person has two opposing items in one subject. A person might have wheat stored in a city warehouse to be sold and, at the same time, he might have wheat growing in the fields. If he was to request from God lots of rain for his fields, he runs the risk that the stored grains will become bad from the worms and moreover, since all the crops will be increased, the price of wheat will fall and he will lose when he sells his stored grain. On the other hand, if he was to pray that there should be no rain so that he can get a good price for his stored grain, he runs the risk that his fields will dry up and the amount of produce will be less than expected. Here, with this blessing, God will make changes so that this person will win on both accounts; from his stored grains and from the produce in his fields. In other words, this person will be blessed in the city where his grain is stored and in the fields as well.

When I read this commentary, I couldn’t help but think about the situation we currently find ourselves in. We are in a unique moment in history when we have been forced into our homes and the boundaries between our workplaces, our schools, and our personal lives have been blurred. I’ve heard from many parents about their longing for a reinstatement of these boundaries, they want their children to go back to school and they want to be able to go back to their offices. At the same time, I’ve heard from so many parents about the blessings of these times. I’ve heard about the special bond that has been formed between siblings. I’ve heard about the newfound respect and responsibility students have taken on for their homes.

Prior to March, the conventional wisdom was that in order to be effective employees we need to be in the office. And, in order to be effective parents we need to be at home. In order to be effective students we need to be at school, and in order to have a healthy relationship between students and parents we need kids to spend time with their parents outside of school. This virus has blurred these boundaries and challenged those assumptions. Many employers have renewed their humanity in seeing their complete employee, a parent, a caregiver who has many responsibilities in addition to their work. Parents have developed a newfound appreciation for teaching craft as they support their students in remote learning. Children and parents have found ways to build new relationships and spending so much time together has fostered new dimensions to our relationships.

This year, when we recite the blessing “You shall be blessed in the city and you shall be blessed in the field,” there is a new dimension to our understanding of the verse. We want this virus to end, we want things to go back to normal, and we want our students learning on campus. And yet, we don’t want that blessing to come at the expense of all the ways we have grown and learned to appreciate one another over the past few months. At the same time, we don’t want to appreciate these times so much that we forget the importance of returning to school and restoring a sense of normalcy.

As we approach the holiday of Rosh Hashanah, and we think about what the coming year will hold, I want to offer this original blessing to you all that I have crafted in the spirit of this reflection.

May it be Your will, God, Master of the Universe, that health be granted speedily to our communities and our world and that the pain and damage of this virus be eradicated from the face of the earth. May it also be Your will that we not forget all the ways in which we have grown while this virus has plagued our world. That we not lose the empathy we have developed for one another and the humanity we have seen from one another. Amen.