Boulder Aish Kodesh

As we follow Israel’s travails through the wilderness, we may find ourselves exasperated – how could they not believe in G-d after having walked through the Sea of Reeds?  Don’t they (read we) realize that G-d who can part the sea can give them(us) water?  Why don’t they (we) just ask?

But the truth is that the Israelites’ own exasperation at needing water immediately after crossing the sea was not merely forgetfulness or lack of belief.  What was so disturbing to them was that, after having been lifted so high by G-d’s providence, after G-d’s having shown a willingness to change patterns of nature for them, demonstrating a deep love for the people Israel, that they would then have to ask for water.  Granted, if they came to another Sea of Reeds and needed it to be parted for them, they could wonder if G-d would do I again.  But to have to ask for water?  I thought we loved each other!  I thought we were past that level.

This can be the most frustrating aspect of trying to serve G-d – having to start over completely from scratch.  It is so challenging to wake up in the morning and have to begin an entirely new day – מודה אני – thank you for my soul.  Thank you for my eye-sight.  It would seem to be so much easier to be able to pick up where I left off, with the last highest spiritual thought I had before I went to sleep. Many people are unable to make this move, and feel they are getting nowhere in their practice.

But the truth is, there are amazing gifts in being able to start over every day.  For when you stand on the bottom floor, you know exactly where you stand.  The key is to let go of any judgment of the ground floor as being ‘bad’ or ‘for beginners’.  Once you can be there joyfully, it becomes an amazing experience of being reborn every day.  When I start each day as a new creation, as is implied by the prayer ‘G-d, in G-d’s benevolence, renews daily the act of creation’, then having a soul and taking a breath does feel miraculous.  Opening your eyes is a phenomenal experience worthy of a heart-felt blessing to G-d.

Truthfully, so much happens in the night when we are sleeping.  As many understand it, when we sleep, our soul stays only minimally attached to our body – it essentially goes to the Place of Souls where it recharges.  When it comes back into our bodies, it is revitalized and invigorated, once again ready to strike out on its mission.  The body, too, is rested, and therefore more able to work hard.  When we wake up, we are dynamically new.  If we are prepared to engage on such a level, we can find that our eyes are new eyes, and our body is a new body.  This is not called starting over.

We must be willing to ask for water and to see it as a gift.  By learning to take nothing for granted, everything becomes a gift.  And each time we receive a gift, we are able to re-experience the love behind it.  When we expect of one another, or of G-d, we lose touch with the gift, and giving becomes a job or a responsibility.  At that moment of withholding water, G-d was actually giving a much greater gift- an invitation to constant relationship.