Just Keep Swimming

This past week, the Torah portion that we read we Chayei Sarah. In Hebrew this means "The Life of Sarah." The odd thing about this parsha (portion) is that in the first line we read about the death of Sarah. How is this about her life if in the very first line, she dies?Well, everyone has their theories... so let me tell you mine. In Berakhot 18ab our sages tell us "The wicked are called dead even in their lifetime, but the righteous, even after death are called living." Throughout the parsha we learn about how Sarah is living through her son Isaac and his eventual wife Rivka (Rebecca).I think that this is the life of Sarah because as Jewish mothers (or G-d willing, eventual mothers) our legacy lives on within our children. Our actions have lasting effects on ourselves, on our children, on the world. If we choose to involve children in kashrut, we have a better chance of our children keeping kosher. If we light candles with our kids, it will become important to them too. On Passover we tell the four children, "this is because what G-d did for me when I was at Mt. Sinai." We don't say, "you have to do this because you are Jewish." The key to our lasting legacy is our children must see us living our Judaism. Teaching children to give tzadaka (charity) won't stick with them if they don't see us give tzadaka ourselves.I Jew. How do you Jew? Would you like to Jew together?I don't know. That's the decision we all must make in our own time and for ourselves. But we are the legacies of our mothers and will be passing our legacy on to our children and that must figure into our decisions because the things we choose today are not just for ourselves but for our legacy as well.Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Why is this the one physics lesson I remember?  I don't know. I do know that this is true in our lives. We stand in the world with equal but opposite forces pushing in on us. We were given the opportunity to choose which flow to fall into. Close your eyes and imagine standing at the cross-waters of two powerful rivers. You are equally being pushed south and west. Which force is stronger? Neither. So which way do you go? What river is your flow?The beauty I find in Judaism is within the flow. Not every person is up to every mitzvah, no matter how much we wish we were. However, if we can find the flow to our Judaism, we can create a successful and positive legacy. No matter if that means sheitel (wig) or tichel (scarf) or nothing, black hat or bareheaded. Seek out your flow, fall into the river and, as my favorite fish once told me... just keep swimming.