“You know, they straightened out the Mississippi River in places, to make room for houses and livable acreage. Occasionally the river floods these places. ‘Floods’ is the word they use, but in fact it is not flooding; it is remembering. Remembering where it used to be. All water has a perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was.”
This quote by Toni Morrison is a favorite of mine. I first heard it to frame a contact improvisation class I took some years ago. I’m thinking of it this week as we read Parasha Noach and the story of Noah’s ark which begins with a giant flood that G-d sends to wipe out the wickedness on earth. I also am reminded of this quote as I remember Rabbi Arthur Ocean Waskow, of blessed memory, who passed away this week and taught so much about Judaism and the natural world.
I remember learning with Rabbi Waskow during a January term during rabbinical school. He asked us to pronounce the name of G-d, יה , yud-hey. Try pronouncing this. You will notice, as Reb Arthur taught, that what comes out is a breath. A breath that connects us to the natural world. We breathe in what the trees breathe out. Every other breath of oxygen that we breathe comes from the ocean, produced by algae undergoing the process of photosynthesis. The relationship between humans and plants and trees is truly symbiotic.
Ever since taking that class with Reb Arthur I have related to G-d through breath, through connection to the natural world. This week I am thinking of the power of water — something that nourishes and sustains life, something that destroys and floods and drowns, something that holds memory as Morrison describes of rivers, something that contains and protects such as in the womb.
May water be our teacher, connecting us to the breath of life, holding memory, and reminding us of our power to both create and destroy.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi May
This quote by Toni Morrison is a favorite of mine. I first heard it to frame a contact improvisation class I took some years ago. I’m thinking of it this week as we read Parasha Noach and the story of Noah’s ark which begins with a giant flood that G-d sends to wipe out the wickedness on earth. I also am reminded of this quote as I remember Rabbi Arthur Ocean Waskow, of blessed memory, who passed away this week and taught so much about Judaism and the natural world.
I remember learning with Rabbi Waskow during a January term during rabbinical school. He asked us to pronounce the name of G-d, יה , yud-hey. Try pronouncing this. You will notice, as Reb Arthur taught, that what comes out is a breath. A breath that connects us to the natural world. We breathe in what the trees breathe out. Every other breath of oxygen that we breathe comes from the ocean, produced by algae undergoing the process of photosynthesis. The relationship between humans and plants and trees is truly symbiotic.
Ever since taking that class with Reb Arthur I have related to G-d through breath, through connection to the natural world. This week I am thinking of the power of water — something that nourishes and sustains life, something that destroys and floods and drowns, something that holds memory as Morrison describes of rivers, something that contains and protects such as in the womb.
May water be our teacher, connecting us to the breath of life, holding memory, and reminding us of our power to both create and destroy.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi May
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