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When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, so that you do not bring bloodguilt on your house if anyone should fall from it. ~
~Deuteronomy 22:8
There are verses in the Torah that I have read year upon year, but which take on a new meaning as a result of a new experience. Just a few months ago, I had the opportunity to travel with 11 members of Temple Isaiah as part of a larger group of Maryland DreamBuilders – the interfaith collective we have been part of for over 20 years – in order to build three homes in the flood-devastated area of Hazard, Kentucky. Spending a week working on the job site as we went from concrete foundations to full structures under roof with windows and doors installed, the most precarious part of the building was when the roofing was taking place. Seeing the care with which the master carpenters installed safeguards, and knowing that our members who were on the roof were safe, and those of us working underneath them (as I smartly stayed on terra firma) gave great reassurance that safety comes first – not only during the process of building, but in the product itself. This commandment to install a “parapet” is generalized to say that our homes, our institutions and our community should be places where great intention and attention is given to preventing unnecessary injury and (God-forbid) death. May we always strive to make our homes, our synagogues and our community a safe place in all senses of the word.
~Rabbi Craig Axler
