I write these words as the world around me is bathed in the soothing, flowing light of the full moon. No wonder most of the Jewish holidays fall mid-way along the moon's monthly trek. When the sky is cleared of clouds, allotting the moon full reign of the heavens, its light shines down upon us like pearls, poured from a jug, that break and splash upon hitting earth. Silently, the light bounces and spreads, gently subduing the realm of darkness. The light is pale and thin, true, but also cool and sure, allowing us to peer just enough into the unknown to calm our night fears.
An architectural peculiarity of my house makes me especially fond of this time of night, at this time of the month. When the full moon is high in the sky, just about half-way along its nightly journey, its light floods through a skylight into my bathroom, filling the tub with its ethereal essence. It almost appears as if the tub were awash in lunar water, the very stuff that could establish the moon as an hospitable outpost for human space explorations. So real it sometimes seems that I want to call NASA and say, here it is. Lunar water exists after all. Come, gather it up for yourselves.
The light, though beckoning, is also sometimes cruel, alluring with its desperately desired but maddeningly elusive gifts of healing. I have often been tempted to climb into the tub, to sink and soak gently in those sacred waters poured from the very pools of heaven, reaching back to the first moments of the world's creation. What ailment could not be cured by those primordial waters, when earth and heaven were one? What pains and sorrows could not be washed away?
These thoughts and feelings are magnified on this particular full moon of Shvat, for this month marks the turning of the seasons, when the sap begins to rise in the trees in Israel and the almond blossoms begin to bud. This full moon of Shvat is a herald that the back of the winter has been scaled and spring is now upon us. So even if, come break of day, we see there is no such thing as lunar water, even if the celestial blessings of rebirth are not ours, the earthly blessings of renewal are.
What more can we ask for?
0 comments:
Post a Comment