Camping in the Jerusalem Forest ...
This weekend I went camping in the Jerusalem Forest and went down to Ein Karem for Shabbos. I pitched westward on a terrace with a view of the sunset dropping behind the mountain ahead. Hadassah Hospital forms the farthestmost point in view.
I look to the hills. Where does my help come from? ... the Maker of heaven and earth.
As a teen I hiked in the state and national parks of Western Pennslvania and West Virginia in the US. As a freshman at the U. of Michigan, I braved a trip alone in a cold November to Mt. Rainier in Washington state and made it up one of the 'glacial' slopes, against the better advice of the Park Service. It was a self-imposed desire, and a time of discovery.
The silence and sounds, the forms and context of the natural environment are very conducive to acknowledging the Creator, the very subject of Shabbos. My mind wanders thinking about people in other places and times and their lives before the innovations of modern conveniences, or places they may still not exist. The impact of those innovations. Of the evolutions of individual societies, and mentally back again to this one.
Of Daniel, who saw the innovations of the future beforehand. Who prayed three times a day, advised kings, lived faithfully, and could perceive both in the present, as well as the future, the presence of HaShem. Whose example I instructed and admonished my sons to follow - and I hope they are.
© Copyright 2006 Dean Levinson
This weekend I went camping in the Jerusalem Forest and went down to Ein Karem for Shabbos. I pitched westward on a terrace with a view of the sunset dropping behind the mountain ahead. Hadassah Hospital forms the farthestmost point in view.
I look to the hills. Where does my help come from? ... the Maker of heaven and earth.
As a teen I hiked in the state and national parks of Western Pennslvania and West Virginia in the US. As a freshman at the U. of Michigan, I braved a trip alone in a cold November to Mt. Rainier in Washington state and made it up one of the 'glacial' slopes, against the better advice of the Park Service. It was a self-imposed desire, and a time of discovery.
The silence and sounds, the forms and context of the natural environment are very conducive to acknowledging the Creator, the very subject of Shabbos. My mind wanders thinking about people in other places and times and their lives before the innovations of modern conveniences, or places they may still not exist. The impact of those innovations. Of the evolutions of individual societies, and mentally back again to this one.
Of Daniel, who saw the innovations of the future beforehand. Who prayed three times a day, advised kings, lived faithfully, and could perceive both in the present, as well as the future, the presence of HaShem. Whose example I instructed and admonished my sons to follow - and I hope they are.
© Copyright 2006 Dean Levinson
posted by Dov Levinson at 8:55 PM
<< Home