The World Lacks Nothing

It’s Rosh Chodesh Nissan!

According to Jewish tradition, Nissan is the true beginning of spring.  This is reflected in a lesser known blessing that is appropriate to recite during this month: birkat ha-ilanot – the blessing over blossoming trees.

If one is outside during the month of Nissan (maintaining appropriate social distancing, of course) and sees fruit trees that are blossoming, one recites this special blessing.  With this blessing, we praise God’s ongoing renewal of creation during the season of redemption in which we renew our commitment to serving Him on the Pesach holiday.

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה' אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם שֶׁלֹּא חִסַּר בְּעוֹלָמוֹ כְּלוּם וּבָרָא בוֹ בְּרִיּוֹת טוֹבוֹת וְאִילָנוֹת טוֹבוֹת לֵהָנוֹת בָּהֶם בְּנֵי אָדָם.

Lord our God, King of the universe, You are the source of all blessing, Who has withheld nothing from His world, rather has created in it beautiful creatures and trees for human beings to enjoy.

Expressing our appreciation for the wonders of creation is always appropriate – especially as springtime brings with it the renewal of nature.  At this time, can we really understand the words of the blessing of “Who has withheld NOTHING from His world?”  We are, of course, grateful for our many blessings, but these words don’t match the tenuous and challenging times in which we find ourselves.  How can we make sense of this blessing during these times?

Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm explains that this blessing of the spring gives us permission to create a “holy fiction.”  For just a moment, as we behold the wonder of the renewal of nature, we shut out the outside world, try to transcend our difficulties and sadness, and create the “holy fiction” that everything really can be perfect.  Stopping to appreciate spring also reminds us that, even with all of the uncertainty that surrounds us and the terrible illness afflicting so many people that we know, we have the permission – and even the obligation – to remember that a perfect world is possible and to count our blessings.

We should each try to carve out time each day to create this “holy fiction.”

There is plenty of uncertainty.  When will things reopen?  How to manage with being furloughed or out of work?  How will the Seder be joyous without the family?  At the same time, there is tremendous good all around us.  There are the first responders and medical professionals heroically caring for those who are sick.  There are people staffing supermarkets and restocking the shelves.  There are small acts of kindness being performed, phone calls being made, and ideas being shared to maintain sanity and bring a sense of security and joy to those who need it.  We can create meaningful mini-moments with a phone call, an email, or joining a Zoom meeting.

The world today is far from perfect, yet the world is beautiful and lacks nothing.  The arrival of Nissan and the blessing over the trees comes just in time to reinforce for us this “holy fiction.”

Today, I will recite the birkat ha-ilanot on our terrace.  (Naama has been caring for her pear tree all winter!)  I hope you have the chance to recite the blessing.  (It can be recited all month long)  May it bring each of us some comfort and inspiration and be a harbinger for a full blossoming of spring and a season of healing and renewal for all.

Chodesh tov!

(H/t to Rabbi Mark Dratch for sharing this idea)

There's (These Days Literally) No Place Like Home

I would imagine you’re reading this at home.

“There’s no place like home.”

“Home is where the heart is.”

“What I love most about my home is who I share it with.”

There is a lot of sharing going on these days.

Home is the place my wife, my four children (yes, Meira came back from Israel due to the situation there), and I spend LOTS of time together these days.  I am sure this is a familiar feeling.

HHH  Home is also, interestingly, a central motif in Parshat HaChodesh (Shemot 12:1-20), which is read this Shabbat.  God tells the Jews that each home should take a lamb for the Pesach sacrifice.  If a home is too small for a lamb of its own, that home should join with neighbors.  The blood of the lamb should be placed on the doorposts of the home as a sign that is a Jewish one.  God will smite the Egyptian firstborn while passing over every Jewish home. 

In reading Parshat HaChodesh, we cannot help but see how the home is integral in the Pesach story.  We know that Pesach is a home holiday.  It is about family and tradition.  This year, even for many who go away and have never been home for Pesach, we are all focused on the home.

We know that Judaism focuses on family.  At this time, though, our world literally revolves around and within the home.  We are cut off from family, friends, and community.  Our whole world is the home.

A member of the community recounted that when he was growing in the 60's, the great majority of people he knew celebrated Pesach with only their nuclear family since many in his community were the children of Holocaust survivors.  There were no grandparents.  This year, he noted, it will be like that again.

A Pesach with just the nuclear family may sound lonely or less exciting.  I feel that pain as my children will not celebrate Pesach with their grandparents as planned.  Let’s face it.  A lot in the world is not going as planned.  This week’s Torah reading, though, reminds us of the importance, necessity, and power of the home.  

“Maybe the reason you can never go home again is that, once you’re back, you can never leave…”

The home provides us with our values, shapes our identities, and fuels our behavior.  The home is with us always.  These days, we are spending a lot of time at home.  It may frustrate some of us and drive us crazy.  At the same time, the home is where we need to be right now, and we need our home to shape who we need to be. 

So let’s all strive to ensure our homes remain “home, sweet home.”  Let’s talk to each other more, share with each other more, show kindness with each other more, and use out time together at home to reinforce the best we have within ourselves.  Hopefully, the will transform us and the world around us when, please God, we all get to leave home and return to the world outside.  (For some meaningful sentiments to provide perspective, see HERE.)

I close with the traditional birkat ha-bayit, blessing for the home:

בְּזֶה הַשַּׁעַר לֹא יָבוֹא צַעַר. בְּזֹאת הַדִּירָה לֹא תָבוֹא צָרָה. בְּזֹאת הַדֶּלֶת לֺא תָבוֹא בֶּהָלָה. בְּזֹאת הַמַּחְלָקָה לֺא תָבוֹא מַחְלוֺקֶת. בְּזֶה הַמָּקוֺם תְּהִי בְרָכָה וְשָׁלוֺם.

Let no pain come through this gate.  Let no trouble come to this dwelling.  Let no fear come through this door.  Let no conflict be in this place.  Let this home be filled with the blessing of joy and peace.

AMEN!