Nassa / Time

Every year I rethink the idea that Parshat Nassa repeatedly mentions families and homes. It also includes the episode of Sotah. Rabbi Frand cites an approach, which suggests that the connection between the refrains of "mispechotam" and "beit avotam" is that our nation is only as strong as our families. As Allen Wheelis put it, "There are no individuals, only fragments of families." I first wrote about this on the blog here and logged in more comments on this subsequent post, which included the same thought one year later. It's funny (not ha-ha) that this parsha comes around as the school year is ending and thoughts regarding the balance of school and family in the forming of a person come to the fore.
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I put on the radio upon awakening and the first tune playing was The Secret of Life (is enjoying the passage of time). Then in the reading room, I picked up A Broom of One's Own and read this when I opened the book randomly to page 71 - "Time is the comforting blanket that cloaks all our days, and the rug that we are constantly pulling out from under ourselves. The most important things to remember about time are that you need it and that you have it."