The Bird Is Grounded

I’ve been thinking a lot about what happens when this is over?  What happens when it is safe for all of us to go back to our lives, back to normal?  What will have changed if anything in our personal lives?

There is a very important theological conundrum that is often taken out of context.  It is a very relevant one to this question and our times.

G-d communicates with us through the things that happen to us.  The blessings and challenges we experience is Hashem’s way of sending us a message.  It His way of inspiring us to grow.

At the same time when looking at the challenges that others are experiencing, it is wholly inappropriate, incentive and not true for us to say; “oh, Hashem is sending you a message, try to figure it out”.  The only way you can say such a thing is if you are a prophet and can see inside another’s soul.

So, if we are to go back to normal after this passes, “back to our lives”, then we will have missed Hashem’s message.

In this week’s Torah portion we read about the various animal sacrifices.  Fish are not sacrificed but birds are.

In Kabbalah the righteous are likened to the fish as they are submerged in the waters of the ocean; the waters representing the realm of holiness. As such, there is no need for sacrifice.

Animals are on the ground, engrossed in their earthiness.  As such, sacrifice makes all the sense as we need to elevate to a higher spiritual space.

Birds generally fly above the earth representing an elevated state.  It is likened to the intellect which generally is removed from the physical experience.  Intellect although generally a good thing, can be self serving and lead to very selfish and narcissistic places.  The intellect needs grounding. Birds need to come down to the earth to rest and representing the intellect requiring grounding, birds are offered as sacrifices on occasion.
 
I am internalizing this time like the bird sacrifice.  We’ve been going about our business becoming comfortable in our physical material reality – a truly good one might I say.  But this comfort can also get to our heads and become self serving.  These challenging days are a wake up call for us to remember why we have been blessed with so much abundance.  It is a reset of sorts.  A grounding opportunity for sacrifice.

One of the things I’ve enjoyed is the slower pace and although we have 12 humans under our roof, I’ve actually enjoyed hanging out with the kids, doing their school work with them, doing extended family zoom calls, drinking lots of wine and having time to study Torah and pray with a little more intention.

Lord knows we all have made sacrifices during these days and I pray we move on from here quickly, not back to normal but rather to a new reality.  A new world in which the important things we have reconnected with become the dominant in life.

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