You Don’t Have to Be Perfect to Be Powerful

Have you ever surprised yourself by surviving something that you really thought would break you? You didn't have a map. You didn't know how it would end, but somehow you kept on going. Maybe you didn't get exactly where you wanted to, but you got there and you're still here. And that's what matters. And that is one of the most powerful messages of this week's para kiso. The para starts with elit. It will be when you come into the land after years of slavery, trauma, wondering, war. The Ben Israel finally reached their destination. And the first mitzvah they're given isn't about conquest, isn't about control. It's about bringing pikurim, the first fruits of the land. Giving those as a gift to Hashem. Not the whole harvest, just the first. Why? Because healing doesn't happen all at once. You don't have to be fully recovered to be grateful, to be connected, to be worthy. You have to show up with what you can bring. Even if it's small, even if it's proved, even if it's not perfected yet. Bikurim is more than fruit. It's a symbol of arrival. Not to perfection, but to possibility. This is the Torah telling every survivor, every struggler, you made it through the wilderness, you're still standing. That's something worth offering. You don't have to bring everything. Just what you can, just your next step, just your breath, just your truth. Dr. Edith Ager had said, "Healing isn't about forgetting. It's about giving yourself permission to feel without getting stuck." Dr. Ager, a Holocaust survivor and worldrenowned trauma therapist, is teaching us that healing isn't about erasing what happened. It's about owning your story and still moving forward. And that's exactly what Kiso asks of us. This says when a person gives even the smallest part of themselves with sincerity, it rises to the highest places in heaven. You don't have to be perfect to be powerful. You don't have to be whole to be holy. You just have to be real. That's what makes your offering beautiful in the eyes of Hashem. If you're still carrying pain, if joy still feels distant, if you're waiting to be fixed before you feel worthy, stop. Look at what you've survived. Your life is the first fruit. Your healing isn't about being finished. It's about being faithful. It's about showing up anyway. Hashem doesn't ask you to be whole. Hashem asks you to be honest, to bring something and trust that it's enough. Thank you very much and have a wonderful Shabas.