I recently recited this blessing, sheheheyanu, when I clipped into my bike at the Peloton Studio in NYC for my first in person ride. It felt extraordinary to be present with other breathing humans, people I'd imagined from my apartment where I participate in what for me has been an ongoing online community. What was most miraculous, and most life affirming, was that I put myself in that room. Even earlier that day, I was not convinced I was going to go. As you can imagine, the High Holy Days and festival season are all encompassing in body and spirit. Community members still celebrate s'machot and observe loss. People need healing. People need prayers to release them from healing. We continue planning and implementing, singing and meditating, even as we gather and pray; celebrate and remember. All this to say, these months have been overfilled with life! I was tired and feeling not so ready to ride in a public setting.
What a gift to pick myself up and enter the public sphere, especially when I wanted to be home. What a blessing to transform my experience of community by expanding my online relationships to 3D interactions. What a beautiful surprise to start a conversation with the instructor, #DenisMorton, about beginnings, middles, and endings, and walk away with a book recommendation that will inform my spiritual development and teaching. Our tradition understands, kol hathalot kashot/all beginnings are difficult. All starting points call on us to reach within and beyond. Every beginning opens the door to vulnerability. It is these moments that pave the way to the unexpected and plant resilience and commitment to showing up for life.
In this week's parasha we witness a universal sign of hope and friendship -- the rainbow. In Hebrew, a rainbow is known as a keshet, which can also be seen as a bow of war. Moving from destruction to renewal, the holy one takes a sign that requires rain and sun, both necessary in moderation, and rebrands it as a sign of commitment and covenantal relationship. This new beginning reminds us to remain hopeful when we return to the difficult places, and to remain connected to one another in our lives.
As we move into this new month, known for the regular and the mundane, let us all show up for one another to renew, remember, and reignite our relationships. May we find sparks of sacred beginning in the ordinary rhythm of our lives.
Hodesh Tov,
rg
