Parashat Mishpatim • Exodus 21:1–24:18
Reach Out in Love
With Valentine’s Day being on Shabbat, this week feels like the perfect time to practice reaching out in love—especially to someone who may be feeling alone, unseen, or stretched beyond what feels manageable.
Reaching out in love isn’t complicated. It can be a hug, a text, a call, or a compliment. Small acts of kindness are also a powerful way to reach out in love: a handmade card, a meal, an offer to run an errand, or an invitation to get together.
For me, reaching out in love is also a spiritual practice: setting an intention to look for the spark of holiness in every person—and to notice, really notice, them. A single loving act can change someone’s world!
For those who like to color, here’s a coloring page on this theme from my Judaic Expressions Coloring Book that you are welcome to download and share.
Visual Midrash: Mishpatim
My Torah illumination this week is Exodus 22:20:
“You shall not mistreat a stranger, nor shall you oppress them—for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”
Parashat Mishpatim is filled with mitzvot that move Torah out of the heavens and into human hands—teachings that shape a society rooted in justice, dignity, and compassion.
And woven into all of it is this insistence: pay attention to who is vulnerable, which ties in beautifully with the practice of reaching out in love.
Torah doesn’t only ask us to avoid cruelty. It asks us to remember what it felt like to be unseen or unprotected—and to let that memory refine how we live.
This week, I keep returning to a simple question:
What would it look like to “not mistreat the stranger”?
In our tone. In our assumptions. In our impatience. In our willingness to reach out.
Sometimes the “stranger” is someone we don’t know.
Sometimes it’s someone who is differently abled.
Sometimes it’s a person quietly carrying too much.
Sometimes it’s someone who looks or dresses or eats differently than we do.
As we remember that we were (and sometimes still are) strangers, may we be inspired to let others know they are seen.
Here’s my prayer for this week:
Spark of Holiness
Holy Source of Love and Life,
Make love the lens
through which we view the world.
Enable us to see promise instead of limitation
and beauty instead of imperfection.
Fill our hearts with love
so there isn’t room for fear or negativity.
Allow us to see unlimited potential
in everyone we meet
and to look beyond someone’s character flaws
to the spark of holiness inside their soul.
Let love envelop us.
Let love connect and consecrate us.
Let love flow through us and make us whole.
An illustrated excerpt from this week’s prayer—because sometimes a single line is enough to remind us of our intention.
Increase Joy
In addition to Valentine’s Day, this week we celebrate Rosh Chodesh Adar. If Valentine’s Day is a cultural nudge to reach out in love; Adar is a Jewish nudge to increase joy.
Rosh Chodesh Adar — A Blessing for the New Month
Adar is the month that arrives with a message: increase joy. Not as a way of denying what’s hard—but as a way of strengthening our spirit so we can meet what’s hard with more resilience, more openness, and more hope.
Blessing for Adar
May the month of Adar bring you reasons to smile—
and the courage to keep choosing joy.
May you be blessed with lightness of spirit,
and moments of laughter that restore your soul.
May you find joy in simple things:
a message that touches you,
a memory that transports you,
a melody that moves you,
a moment that reminds you you’re not alone.
And may your joy flow out into the world—
as kindness, generosity, compassion, and love.
Chodesh Tov!
Guided Journaling Questions
- Where are you being invited to let love be the lens through which you view someone—or something—right now?
- Who might feel like a “stranger” in your world today? How can you welcome them and let them know they are seen?
- What helps you access joy that is real—not forced, not performative, but steady and life-giving?
- What is one small act of love you want to offer this week—and what is one small act of love you want to offer yourself?
- As Adar begins, what intention do you want to hold as a guiding light for the month ahead?
Closing Blessing
May you remember that you are seen.
May you remember that you matter.
May you remember that you are not alone.
May you be blessed with the courage to reach out in love,
and may you find joy in reaching out to others.