Behold and Bless the Rainbow Maker

I started a monthly column in my community’s newspaper. I thought some of my readers would be interested:

“Amplifying Community” – April 26, 2024 – Ben White, Spiritual Care Director

On April 24^th and 25^th, Rydal Park and Waters celebrated the Jewish Feast of Passover together. I say, “Rydal Park and Waters” and not “the Jewish Community at Rydal Park and Waters” quite deliberately. It truly was an inclusive, community-wide event. Everyone was invited and many non-Jewish residents attended. Non-Jewish staff, including me, were in attendance as well; and the feast was hosted by our wonderful dining staff, most of whom are not Jewish. The feast of Passover celebrates the liberation of the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt. It is full of miracles which we marked in the very specific order of the Seder, as has been done by millions for thousands of years. (“Seder” means “order”, by the way.) I was very glad to be “in line” with so many people, some remembering for the 80^th or 90^th time, others learning for the first time.

Rabbi Ben David from Keneseth Israel led on Wednesday, and Rabbi Rob Leib and Cantor Elena Zarkh from Beth Am led on Thursday. I was honored by the opportunity to open both feasts with an invocation which I share with you now. It’s a bit of poetry and prayer that captures my best hopes for those days, and for every day really, in our community.

“It says in the book of Sirach “Behold the rainbow, then bless its maker.”

Behold outside, and even without the magic mixture of rain and sun in the sky, we see the work of the Rainbow Maker in the many shades of Spring. The white tulips, pink dogwoods, magenta redbuds, and red, red roses, the orange of marigolds and yellow of daffodils, all the new green leaves; the blue forget-me-nots, the deep blue delphinium, and the violets growing even in the sidewalk cracks.

Behold inside, and here as well there is another kind of rainbow. Not just your feast day best attire, but your faces, your beliefs, your many different ways of living and loving in community. We represent a rainbow of remembrance as we mark the Rainbow Maker’s specific wondrous actions for the people of Israel, at a specific time and place. Wonders which are often too big to behold.

So, we come together from our many different understandings, experiences, and faith expressions, to hold the memory together. When the rainbow was in the waters of a sea split in two, the land between impossibly dry; and the rainbow was in the shouts of praise of a people delivered from slavery, on the shiny zills of tambourines; and the rainbow was in the legacy of liberation, begun back then but not abandoned by those who inherit it. 

And who, when they see such a rainbow, could ever forget to bless? Well …all of us. We all forget to behold. We all forget to bless. It is easy to forget. It is easy to NOT behold. Our eyes grow dim, our hearts grow hard, our spirits weaken, our faith frays. We come together today to behold. We need moments like this. We need fancy luncheons, and ancient traditions, and the people of our community to share it with. This tradition reminds us always to behold. We need the eyes of everyone in this room to reflect the wonders THEY behold; each one shares their unique vision. We need this special meal to share the story again; that together, we may bless the Rainbow Maker. Together we behold and bless. Bind us together, God, as we behold and bless.

Amen”