This weekend, we will read about Moses' warning that at some point in the future, the Jews would be exiled, and later rteturn to our homeland. Driving in a sea of 7 million Floridians who left and returned, I was struck by this experience of rootlessness, of putting our lives on hold; for those of us who were here as well, I sensed that life was on hold-schools are closed for a week, and to quote a text one of you wrote, "nothing to do but cook and catch up on reading."

In some ways it has been like a Shabbat, like a week where instead of "doing" we have been engaged in "being." But it has also been distinctly abnormal, whether because our windows are boarded, our power is out, the library is closed, or we are not in our homes at all.

This weekend, as we read the parsha, I invite us to consider what the Torah is inviting us to feel as our "home," and in what ways even when we return to our houses are we still experiencing "exile.