This week’s Torah portion, Bo, is part of a four-week odyssey describing the way God rescued us from Egypt using signs and portents. In modern lingo, we call these pyrotechnics. This is most especially true of the final plagues – hail, locusts, darkness and the death of the firstborn – meant to be so dramatic that they would be embedded in human memory for time and immemorial.
A story in The NY Times “Is That a Burning Bush? Is This Mt. Sinai? Solstice Bolsters a Claim” reveals just how powerful this memory has been. The article describes a mass Exodus to Mount Karkom in the Negev desert. Looking out at that long flat mountain toward midday in December and a sliver of light appears like a burning bush. It turns out this apparition is just sunlight reflecting off the narrow entrance to a cave and the earliest archeological evidence on the mountain are a mere two thousand years old, and not the three thousand years required for the actual Exodus. No matter, the events themselves are more about human imagination than history. People gathered to be astounded and astounded they were.
May we have many more opportunities to be both surprised and confounded in the new year.
B’Shalom,
Rabbi Alex
Bonus:
Rabbi Alex’s Favorite Books of 2021
1. The Secret Book of Kings by Yochi Brandes – a retelling of the story of Saul and David. Will change the way you think about this Biblical story.
2. The Art of Patience: Seeking the Snow Leopard in Tibet by Sylvain Tesson – a poetic journal of the search to photograph the elusive Snow Leopard by a small group in the midst of the pandemic.
3. Probable Impossibilities: Musings on Beginnings and Endings by Alan Lightman – a physicist presenting his meaning of life, a wonderful look at the intersection between science and religion.
4. The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek – a philosophy of what it means to play a game without rules, beginning or ending. An easy introduction to this important concept.
5. The Wizard and the Prophet: Two Remarkable Scientists and Their Dueling Visions to Shape Tomorrow’s World by Charles Mann – I am currently in the middle of this beautiful summation of the two philosophical movements behind the way humans look at the environment, and the future of our world. Norman Borlaug, the creator of high yield crops and William Vogt, the founder of the environmental movement, are little known scientists who began the argument between ecology and technology. There is a whole chapter on water use in Israel that is well worth reading.
Two CSS connected books I recommend from this past year:
1. Raising Jess: A Story of Hope by Vickie Rubin – this amazing journal of the birth and life journey of Vickie’s daughter Jess. It is about a family’s love for one another and resilience. Read and share with others.
2. Love With No Tomorrow: Tales of Romance During the Holocaust by Mindelle Pierce, an ode to my wife’s grandparents, Jack and Rose Najman, both Holocaust survivors who fell in love during that terrible time period. There are twenty-six other stories told about similar love affairs in the midst of concentration camps, forced labor, and displacement.