Dear Friends,
The air outside is a thick, ungodly cloud.
Interestingly, though, Torah speaks of Godly clouds. It is not surprising. After all, Torah originated in the desert lands around Canaan, where a cloud offered a haven from the daily intensity of the hot, scorching sun. God was understood as residing in the puffy, white protection in the heavens. Note the verses from this week’s Torah portion:
“On the day that the Tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the Tabernacle, the Tent of the Pact; and in the evening, it rested over the Tabernacle in the likeness of fire until morning. It was always so: the cloud covered it, appearing as fire by night. And whenever the cloud lifted from the Tent, the Israelites would set out accordingly; and at the spot where the cloud settled, there the Israelites would make camp… At such times as the cloud rested over the Tabernacle for but a few days, they remained encamped at a command of the Eternal….” (Numbers 9:15-17, 20).
Thus, the cloud was not only a symbol of God’s presence, if not God’s actual presence, but it offered a respite from the unrelenting rays of the sun. The cloud overhead was life-sustaining.
Today, we discover the opposite. We recognize in its absence the crisp beauty of fresh air, and how vital it is to all existence. Presently, the cloud stationed overhead is a poisonous pocket of pollutants, positioned above us by the random forces of high- and low-pressure zones, and 400-some wildfires in Canada from which our present airflow is southerly.
Torah made it clear that we had – and continue to have – an abiding, if not overlooked, relationship with the natural world which sustains us. The waters, when we are not amid drought or flood, nourish and cleanse us; the greenery feeds and shelters us, the fauna delights us and provides some foodstuffs, and the unseen air, with its proper measures of oxygen, carbons, and nitrogen, refreshes and fuels our red blood cells. Such is the composition and function of Godly clouds, and such explains a further rationale for Torah placing God in the puffy white clouds and us, below, in its soft, sweet shadows.
Yes, this toxicity we are breathing is at best an unhealthy irritant and at worst a life-threatening toxin. Yet, from the prism of our Torah portion, it also is a healthy reminder to be attentive to our wider environment, especially the normally-unseen and taken-for-granted foundation of life: the clean air we appreciate.
With Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
The air outside is a thick, ungodly cloud.
Interestingly, though, Torah speaks of Godly clouds. It is not surprising. After all, Torah originated in the desert lands around Canaan, where a cloud offered a haven from the daily intensity of the hot, scorching sun. God was understood as residing in the puffy, white protection in the heavens. Note the verses from this week’s Torah portion:
“On the day that the Tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the Tabernacle, the Tent of the Pact; and in the evening, it rested over the Tabernacle in the likeness of fire until morning. It was always so: the cloud covered it, appearing as fire by night. And whenever the cloud lifted from the Tent, the Israelites would set out accordingly; and at the spot where the cloud settled, there the Israelites would make camp… At such times as the cloud rested over the Tabernacle for but a few days, they remained encamped at a command of the Eternal….” (Numbers 9:15-17, 20).
Thus, the cloud was not only a symbol of God’s presence, if not God’s actual presence, but it offered a respite from the unrelenting rays of the sun. The cloud overhead was life-sustaining.
Today, we discover the opposite. We recognize in its absence the crisp beauty of fresh air, and how vital it is to all existence. Presently, the cloud stationed overhead is a poisonous pocket of pollutants, positioned above us by the random forces of high- and low-pressure zones, and 400-some wildfires in Canada from which our present airflow is southerly.
Torah made it clear that we had – and continue to have – an abiding, if not overlooked, relationship with the natural world which sustains us. The waters, when we are not amid drought or flood, nourish and cleanse us; the greenery feeds and shelters us, the fauna delights us and provides some foodstuffs, and the unseen air, with its proper measures of oxygen, carbons, and nitrogen, refreshes and fuels our red blood cells. Such is the composition and function of Godly clouds, and such explains a further rationale for Torah placing God in the puffy white clouds and us, below, in its soft, sweet shadows.
Yes, this toxicity we are breathing is at best an unhealthy irritant and at worst a life-threatening toxin. Yet, from the prism of our Torah portion, it also is a healthy reminder to be attentive to our wider environment, especially the normally-unseen and taken-for-granted foundation of life: the clean air we appreciate.
With Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
