PARASHAT SHOFTIM -- Justice and Purity
by Rabbi Shawn Fields-Meyer

This shabbat Jews all around the world will read parashat Shoftim (Deuteronomy 16:18 - Deut. 21:9).
There are two verses in this parasha that speak particularly to our families:

"Justice, justice shall you pursue" (Deut. 16:20).
This is for us -- the parents of our children. Each one of us has spent exhausting days (and sleepless nights) pursuing justice for our children -- in IEPs and meetings with schools, with specialists, therapists and teachers. But we have sought justice in much subtler ways as well: by responding to a rude comment by a stranger; by pursuing playdates endlessly for our children; by explaining (countless times to countless people) how to communicate with, tolerate, support, protect, love, undertand our children; by struggling through balancing sibling issues; by making tough choices we'd never imagined we'd have to make. And we have pursued justice in much larger ways too: by supporting legislation to help our kids; by "outing" ourselves and our families in the Jewish community so others can know we are here. We pursue justice -- as it says in the Torah -- every day of our lives.

"You must be wholehearted (or translate as: pure, perfect) with the Lord your God" (Deut. 18:13).
This is a verse for our children -- both those with autism and their siblings. As Mary Oliver expressed in the poem, the Summer Day: they know how to laugh crazily, how to roll in the grass, how to throw themselves passionately into what they love. We often experience them as complicated, but in truth aren't they exactly what the verse says: wholehearted/pure, and very much with God? Perhaps can teach us how to fulfill this mitzvah.