As a community that has children as its central focus, it is important for us as parents to be able to answer life's real and practical questions with as much information as possible, not with opinions alone. There is a variety of sources from which we can derive responses to our children's questions. However, as Jewish adults who have shown a deep commitment to the continuity of Judaism by sending our children to a Jewish day school, knowledge of the "Jewish" perspective on the issues is of critical importance. Even though Judaism is a religion with beliefs and laws that are thousands of years old, it has shown continued relevance as the tradition is consulted regarding issues that come up in each generation as well as the flexibility to be able to evolve and grow over time as new situations arise. This is the "magic" of Judaism, which keeps it alive and thriving and should inspire us all to continue to seek out new opportunities for our own learning as adults.

As I was walking to shul last week, one of the children on our walk asked her father about what Judaism says about getting a tattoo. This is not an uncommon question among Jewish adolescents. It has been asked of me many times in my brief career as a School Rabbi. Father gently (and happily) passed the question my way, being that I happen to be a Rabbi. Now, while the issue of the acceptability of tattoos seems to be more of a contemporary question, as the proliferation and status of "body art" has broadened in this generation, it is relevant to quote from this week's parasha, as I did last Shabbat. In the first section of this week's reading, we find the following:

"...and into their skin, they shall not inject ink." (Leviticus 21:5)

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