Here we are, the first night of new moon/month of Iyar. Even in lock down the sun and moon keep rising and setting, time marches on.
The blessing for the New Moon goes more or less like this:
May it be Your will, Adonai, God of our ancestors,
that the renewal of the moon bring with it blessings –
the blessing of long life, the blessings of peace, goodness, sustenance, and vitality.
May we be ever conscious of heaven’s demands; may we be wary of sin, free of shame and reproach.
May we look forward to a life of abundance, dignity, and Torah;
a life in which all the worthy desires of our hearts are fulfilled…
Amen
When I hear this prayer I’m always struck – how we long for only goodness!
Yet this past week we marked Yom HaShoah, and next week Israeli Memorial and Independence Days. Our history provides occasions for joy, but there is also much suffering and loss that we carry with us.
In discussing the Torah portion with a 12 year old this week, a portion with lots of talk of purity (in this case upon recovery from leprosy), I asked the youngster if he knew what “purity”meant. He thought. I suggested that it can mean “entirely”, like “pure chocolate” – yum.
Then he piped in – “It’s like only the good and none of the bad”. This definition kind of took my breath away. And also broke my heart.
Because nothing is really pure; nothing is “only the good” – everything is mixed. No matter how much we pray for a new month that is only a long list of blessings (above) – we know that the month will most certainly contain sickness, struggle, hurt, sadness, pain, confusion… The kind of “pure goodness” we pray for is, well, a prayer. An expression of longing…
It’s a wonderful prayer, especially when chanted with feeling. And it tends to make one weep, because we know the “pure goodness” we long for will in the end only be partial, at least in this life. Our challenge is to to accept and embrace such a prayer being only partially answered; to accept “some of the bad” in the deal. I tell this to my husband every time I wake him up with my reading lamp at night, or have no idea what we should have for supper. I tell it to myself when someone annoys me, or, more frequently, when I disappoint myself. I’m always striving to lower the bar, longing for goodness but embracing the mixed bag that is this life.
L’chaim!
Chodesh tov/Have a great month!
Wish the same to your Muslim friends!
Wishing you only goodness!
B’vracha/Blessings,
Rabbi Shosh