June 30, 2023 / 11 Tammuz 5783
Shabbat Shalom & Happy Fourth of July!
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…
הֲמִן־הַסֶּ֣לַע הַזֶּ֔ה נוֹצִ֥יא לָכֶ֖ם מָֽיִם
from this boulder must we bring you out water? [Numbers 20:10]
Jan Steen’s glorious canvas has graced the walls of the Philadelphia Museum of Art for decades. I love seeing it and invite you to take a good hard look at it now. Moses and Aaron, roughly in the center of the picture, camels in the background, and a whole bunch of 17th century European looking folk gathering water in copper basins! It’s quite a mash up; a brilliant way of bringing an ancient story to life in the current moment. A favorite rabbinic metaphor equates water with Torah. Moses and Aaron slake the spiritual, along with the physiological, thirst of the people during their journey in the wilderness. What might slake our spiritual thirst today?
