IN THE DEPTHS OF ME
Rabbi Emily Stern
One hundred tired people arrive in the desert, and ask themselves,“ How will we have enough water to survive? How are we going to care for each other?”
And they go on a quest to study the land. It rains a few times, but each time it rains, the blessing of rain is wasted by the desert. It would not be absorbed into the dry land. So, they dig and build trellises in such a way that it captures the water. And this water now begins to create lush eco-systems in the land. Now, they have water, and new life.
It sounds like a dream, but it’ s true because I am here visiting in this lush desert on a scorching summer’ s day. It happens to be the Jewish holiday Tisha B’ Av. It’ s a day of mourning and fasting for the destruction of the first and second Temples in Jerusalem. I am mourning and fasting for this world right now. I sit for much of my day on a small hill with my head down between my legs praying and bothered, water dripping from my forehead. My agitation is subtle but itching me under the surface.
I always felt strongly that someday, the whole earth would be the third Temple. It seems too far away from that now to even believe.
I am parched and weak. A question comes to my mind,“ why is the messiah not here yet?” My brainwaves echo through the sunlit ethers. I hear a voice come back to me. It surprises me, and, at the same time, is comforting because the voice is closer than my own thoughts. It says,“ I am here.”
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