Rabbi Ackerman's Blog
Rabbi David Ackerman
08/11/2011 - Torah and Water
Haverim -
"Torah equals water. That's the bold metaphorical claim of the Talmud (Ta'anit 7a and elsewhere). And what a metaphor it is! Water sustains and preserves life, indeed without water there is no life at all. So too Torah, which gives life to the Jewish people. Without Torah we cease to exist. Let's go deeper. In physical terms, human beings consist largely of water. Torah, therefore, resides within us, each individual in possession of her or his own piece of divinity."
I wrote those sentences a decade ago, after spending part of a day staring at a lovely springtime waterfall in the Poconos. This past week, part of a self-guided retreat, I found myself hiking along, and staring at, two remarkable waterfalls in central New York. They prompted me to think again about the Talmud's wise and layered metaphor. Water equals Torah.
Buttermilk Falls, at the south end of Ithaca, NY, taught me a great deal about the varieties of water's life experience. At different spots along the way, the water flowing down the gorge slices and cascades, roars and trickles, races and eases. Every molecule consists of two atoms of hydrogen and one of oxygen. Add gravity and you get a waterfall. But contemplate that water through the Talmud's metaphor and a powerful set of statements about pluralism and egalitarianism emerges.
Torah, remember, is the rabbinic word for wisdom. Torah represents ideas and learned discourse in our tradition. Like water, it moves in different ways and at varying speeds depending on context. Watching Buttermilk make its way to Cayuga Creek, I noticed the way in which the water sometimes gathers, often separates, and just as often, reconvenes. And those gatherings and separatings take different forms along the gorge's course: pools flow into streams which flow into cascades which flow into full blown falls. Conversations about ideas, debates about wisdom, even political disputes, resemble the trajectories and behavior of Buttermilk's waters. The rabbis were onto something important
After a while, I paid closer attention to the water's effects on the rocks of the gorge itself. Up high, above the water's usual reach, the gorge's sharp edges, marked by layers of rock poking out from the sides as if vying for daylight, bare their claws. Lower down, the strong and steady flow of water over time makes smooth the original rough edges. This detail too, enriches the Talmud's metaphor. Ongoing dialogue and debate, undertaken in a proper spirit and healthy context, should over time smooth out at least some of the rough edges.
A visit to Ithaca Falls, at the north end of town, added yet more to the rabbis' metaphor aligning Torah with water. Here the water spreads out across the face of a mighty cliff, a strong solid central stream with numerous smaller flows on all sides. In the main, the waters of Ithaca Falls glide over the edge of the rock face, easing and sliding their way down the cliff. But at some spots, the water actually seems to throw itself over the edge, fearlessly vaulting, even leaping, into the unknown. This too resembles the life of Torah and of the pursuit of wisdom. Participants in true dialogue do, I think, tend to coalesce around the center, finding a sense of solidity away from the extremes. But not everyone! Some leap into the unknown, apparently without fear, hoping to land in the continuing flow downstream. Ithaca Falls taught me of the dramatic power of the 'leapers,' and of the simple truth that without them, the picture is incomplete.
The waters of Buttermilk Falls and Ithaca Falls meet in Cayuga Lake, a picture of calm beauty last evening as I watched the sunset over the ridges on its western shore. All the churning and cascading, the pooling and separating, give way to peace. That's how the life of Torah is meant to work as well. So may it be!
During these days away I've given much thought to the health of our sacred community at Beth Am Israel. The Torah = water metaphor enlivened for me by these two waterfalls offers us a great deal to contemplate and also a great deal in which to take comfort. Over the past months, we've been especially adept at the churning and separating elements of the equation. We certainly could use more experience of the pooling and peace end of things. This week's haftarah, always chanted on the Shabbat just after Tisha B'Av, begins with the words נחמו נחמו עמי - Comfort, oh comfort My people, Says your God. The Prophet Isaiah's tender words give this Shabbat its name - Shabbat Nahamu. I got to see a vision of Isaiah's message this week in the waters of Cayuga Lake. My hope and prayer is that we all get to see it together in these coming weeks of preparation for a new year.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi David
Previous Posts
03/31/2013 - Pesah and the Language of Longing (Most Recent)02/15/2013 - Rabbi David Hartman z"l
01/18/2013 - MLK Friday Night Welcome
02/07/2013 - Last Shabbat (Yitro)
10/10/2012 - Reflections on Kohelet (Ecclesiastes)
09/27/2012 - Yom Kippur 5773
09/27/2012 - Kol Nidre 5773
09/19/2012 - Rosh Hashanah 1st Day - 5773
09/19/2012 - Rosh Hashanah 2nd Day - 5773
10/19/2011 - Shmini Atzeret and Gilad Shalit
10/11/2011 - Yom Kippur 5772
10/10/2011 - A Yom Kippur Prayer for Israel
10/10/2011 - Kol Nidre 5772
10/02/2011 - Two Rilke Poems for This Week
10/01/2011 - Rosh Hashana 5772 Day Two
10/01/2011 - Rosh Hashana 5772 Day One
08/11/2011 - Torah and Water (Current display)
08/08/2011 - Tisha B`Av 5771
05/04/2011 - Israel: In Our Hearts, On Our Minds
04/20/2011 - Pesah 5771
02/25/2011 - Shabbat Vayakhel
11/22/2010 - Thinking About the Big Stuff
11/22/2010 - Varieties of Jewish Families
10/05/2010 - Bashevis Singer on God & Creativity
09/27/2010 - Yom Kippur 5771
09/22/2010 - Kol Nidre 5771
09/22/2010 - Rosh Hashanah First Day 5771
09/16/2010 - Toward Yom Kippur
08/02/2010 - Palestine in 1912
04/09/2010 ספירת העומר Omer Counting
03/27/2010 - Time Out From Pesah Cleaning Reading
01/23/2010 - Shavua Tov - A Prayer for Haiti
01/22/2010 - MLK Unity Service - Shabbat Bo
11/24/2009 - Parashat Vayetze & Thanksgiving
10/18/2009 - 30 Tishrei 5770 - Rosh Hodesh Heshvan
10/13/2009 - Rabbi Mordecai Waxman, a Tribute
09/28/2009 - Yom Kippur Sermon 5770
09/27/2009 - Kol Nidre Sermon 5770
09/21/2009 - Rosh Hashanah 2nd Day Sermon 5770
09/21/2009 - Rosh Hashanah First Day Sermon 5770
09/17/2009 - L`shana Tova Tikateivu v`Teihateimu
08/21/2009 - Rosh Hodesh Elul
08/18/2009 - The Torah of Trees
08/14/2009 - Parashat Re`eh
08/05/2009 - Tu B`Av [The 15th of Av]
07/24/2009 - Shabbat Devarim-Hazon
07/17/2009 - Parashat Matot-Masei
07/10/2009 - Parashat Pinchas