HaMelech BaSadeh - ChodeshTov

Whenever Chazal - The Rabbis - warn us against something it means there is a natural inclination we need to be wary of. Rav Noach Weinberg ZT"L told me that there's a tendency to prefer leading foxes, which is why we're warned against it (and that I needed to be particularly careful about it). This idea applies to many words of wisdom of Chazal, e.g. not looking at the container but at what it has inside. I came across another such warning, while davening, which prompted this post, but now can't recall what it is...

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I re-read something recently that I'd heard before and forgotten about (perhaps I forgot because it sounds so radical). It never says in the Torah that water was created. In the beginning the world was a mess of tohu vavohu and yet "the spirit of G-d rested on the face of the water." There is something extra holy about water, super connected to G-d. This is why we all seem to find water relaxing. This is why water is holy in every religion.

I truly wonder

of Jerusalem's water.

It is waterless.

Temples and altars for G-d,

But no body of water.

I face the Temple,

surrounded by holy air;

no water in sight.

We do not dive into air.

It's a polite immersion.

I need my Kotel,

but I also need my streams

and my waterfalls.

The Wall never falls on me.

My Nachal Arugot does.

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My friend Benjy pointed out to me via the Maharal that tikvah - hope related to the word kav, a straight line. Rav Moti Alon elaborates on this and says that when there are two points there is only one straight line that can be drawn between them. When we say we hope to G-d , it means that we draw that line, follow that dots, between G-d and us.

I think, in general, this idea of hope being a line is a meaningful one. Hope is when we see the starting line and the finish line between two points. This applies to our relationship with G-d ad also to our relationship with others. it also applies to our goals and to our relationship with ourself.

Food for thought this early Rosh Chodesh Ellul morning.