Burning Bush, Blooming Branches

We are screaming,

G!d

G!d, our hearts are on fire

Our souls are flickering,

Flickering lights

Baseless fights,

Extinguish them

G-d for You, we will.

For us, we are.

Our minds are burning

G!d

We are.

We are your burning bush

and by Your spark,

We Survive.

The thing about people, is that we never “just survive”. I think there are multiple times in our lives when we are thrown into a “burning house” i.e., certain situations and life circumstances when our only reaction is to retreat. We have to escape the burning house in order to survive and we don’t spend a moment thinking about what is really going on. The panic and terror linked to survival cause us to psychologically want to retreat without thinking or processing. However, maybe processing in itself is a survival tactic. Maybe we’ve “survived” by bringing meaning in order to not escape, but elevate the situation and that, to me, lives as the platform for us to not only survive, but to thrive.

Never so coincidentally, this idea brilliantly has already been found and marked as essential within the Torah. (An idea expressed from one of my many holy teachers from Midreshet Harova) Rav Jonathan Bailey suggests that the textual emphasis on the burning bush is to highlight the fact that although Moshe had already established a pattern of seeking spirituality by visiting elevated areas associated to general holiness, it was only until this specific burning bush erupted that he was given the opportunity to associate the spirituality specifically to a Jewish G-d.

The world is on fire. People are unfortunately thrown into this “burning house” of chaos, panic and unknown. It is totally fair and understandable, but I’d like to suggest that we try an emulate this moment between Moshe and G-d.

I suggest, I hope and I pray we all do not see effects of any personal, communal or national crisis as a burning house we must escape without thought. Rather, I pray, we approach what might seem as blinding light, to be a source of clarity. I hope, like Moshe, we take our burning bushes and elevate them. We take a moment and think, think about who we are–why we are, and who we can be.

Just as the burning bush did not demolish, we too radiate light and continuity.

I bless you all to feel warmth, clarity and growth from the light that comes within and is just beginning to illuminate from external sources.