Happy 2026. I hope you had a great winter break and that any trips you may have taken were good and meaningful. In 2020, when we were preparing to read פרשת שמות/Parshat Shemot, our family had a life-changing moment we weren’t expecting. We received a call from our social worker that a baby girl had been born in Orlando, and she was to be our daughter. We found it profound that the weekly פרשה/parsha/portion was שמות, which is when we learn of the first ever adoption, the adoption by Pharaoh’s daughter of משה/Moshe/Moses. When we named Galit, we named her after relatives (please forgive our Ashkenazic naming tradition) and after her story. Galit means wave, and the waves משה’s basket floated over safely delivered him to a loving home. Batya (בתיה) means daughter of God and is the name of Pharaoh’s daughter. Thus, we have our daughter Galit Batya.
Later in this week’s פרשה, we witness the miracle of the burning bush. משה remarks to himself that he needs to turn to look at this incredible thing, a bush that was enflamed but would not burn up. The wow moment משה encountered at this sight is something we all hunger to achieve. We all want to be amazed. We all want to be struck by awe. Sometimes we are aiming too high and need to recognize that the amazement was there all along. In the case of the burning bush, it was an ordinary bush on fire. In the desert it wouldn’t have been uncommon for bushes to catch fire. It took an astute משה to stop what he was doing and take notice of the bush that was engulfed in flames.
The miracle of the phone call. The miracle of Galit coming into our lives. The miracle of people caring for children they will not parent. The miracle of the people who work to place the babies and make families. These miracles happen all the time and we don’t always recognize them. Each of us needs to stop on a regular basis and see the miracles in the world around us. We need to see that our lives are miracles. We need to see that when we stop and appreciate the beauty and majesty of creation, we’ll be better able to recognize miracles in our midst.
Happy Birthday Galit, our second miracle.
