Reeh - 2024

Chevre, this week’s parsha is Re’eh (רְאֵה). We have a pretty large smathering this week of things including: the sanctity of the land, what to eat or not eat, sanctified foods, false prophets, tithes, shemitah, the treatment of a Jewish bondsman and then we get into the festivals (again).

Amongst all of this we find this line after it’s stated that you shouldn’t cut yourself when someone dies.

For you are a people consecrated to your God ‘ה: your God ‘ה chose you from among all other peoples on earth to be a treasured people. (https://www.sefaria.org/Deuteronomy.14.2?lang=bi&aliyot=0)

We have a listing of ways that we should be holy (עַ֤ם קָדוֹשׁ֙) and here we have the why. We do these things (and others) because we are living up to being The Holy Nation. In other contexts we do things to be good netizens (citizens of The Internet). Or we do things to ensure our workloads are stable and resistent. But, on The Internet, there has to be a lot of trust amongst the providers. BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) is a political protocol. It is specifically configured to allow or not allow routes between networks based on contracts and agreements.

So no matter the level of technical sofistication that we may have reached, there still needs to be a level of trust and doing the right thing. Because we all want to be holy, a good person, a good citizen of our country, citizen of the world, and a good netizen.

Shabbat Shalom.