“RABBI’S MUSINGS (& AMUSINGS)”
Erev Shabbos Kodesh parshas Tazria-Metzora – Shabbos
Rosh Chodesh Iyar
Avos perek 2 – 15th day of Omer
30 Nisan 5783/April 21, 2023
TO LIFE!
It’s incredible to think that it’s been over three years since the onset
of the pandemic. It’s already becoming hard to remember just how difficult and
anxiety-provoking that time period was.
Yet, there were also some blessings of that period that I remember
fondly. One of them was having the opportunity to go for a walk every morning
with my wife. After shachris and breakfast, we had time to take a stroll around
our neighborhood, before all the zoom and phone call-ins began.
It was this time of the year, and it was a real opportunity for me to
watch the dormant trees come to life. I learned the names of many of the trees
and recognized the differences between them. I was well aware of the
resplendent colors of the leaves in autumn, just before the leaves fall off the
trees and die. But I had never realized how stunning and vivacious the trees
were at the beginning of spring.
One morning, as we walked down Tioken Road, about a ten-minute walk from
our home, we were surprised to see a small cemetery in between two houses. Were
it not for the sign on the edge of the property that read “DeRonde Cemetery: In
memory of the veterans interred at this cemetery,” it would be hard to realize
that it was anything more than empty land in middle of a residential neighborhood.
We walked through the old cemetery and tried to make out the worn-out
names and dates. Many of the headstones had fallen over and their writing was
hardly legible.
I searched online for some information about the cemetery. I learned that
there are 48 plots in the cemetery. The first to be buried there was seven-year-old
Jane Von Houten on November 2, 1777. The last to be buried there was Margaret
DeRonde Bird on December 16, 1893.
I found an email address for a descendant of the De-Ronde family. I contacted
him and he replied that the family cemetery is on what at one time was the farm
of his ancestor, Jacob De Ronde. The De Ronde family was prominent in Rockland
County. There were four brothers who served in the nascent army of the
colonists during the American Revolution, including Jacob. All those buried
there are members of the original DeRonde family.
I wonder what would happen if one day while walking past the cemetery, I
suddenly hear rumbling. A moment later I see some groggy looking individuals
wearing antiquated clothing looking around in confusion. Unbelievably, the dead
have been resurrected. They dust off their clothes and begin walking out of the
cemetery trying to digest the vast changes that have occurred since they were
last there.
While that may seem like a fantastical story, it’s actually somewhat
true, albeit not in the cemetery itself.
Anything extraordinary that occurs only excites us and is considered
noteworthy until it is given a scientific name and explanation. Once the
“experts” tell us that what occurred has a rational natural explanation we are
no longer impressed, as though now it’s expected.
The advent of spring is no less a miracle than the resurrection of the
dead. We fail to appreciate it as such because it’s a natural occurrence with a
rational natural explanation.
If I stand in the same spot where I stood just one month ago, the
landscape I see is completely different. Barren branches and bare lawns have
transformed into a verdant paradise of stunning pink, red, white and green.
Someone once commented to Rav Aharon Soloveitchik that he felt the most
beautiful beracha recited during the year, is the beracha recited at the
conclusion of Maggid at the Seder on Pesach. In that beracha we thank Hashem
for having granted us the unique mitzvos of the night to eat matzah and marror.
Then we passionately pray for the day when we will have the opportunity to
offer the Korban Pesach and sing a new song of gratitude to Hashem for the
miracles of the future redemption.
Rav Aharon replied that
while he agreed that it is a special and moving beracha, in his opinion there
is an even more beautiful beracha - the beracha of Asher Yatzar recited after
each time one goes to the bathroom.
Most of us don’t recognize the beauty of that beracha because we fail to
recognize the ongoing natural miracle of our bodily functions.
Miracles surround us constantly, but we have to be in tune to recognize
them. One should not whistle past the graveyard, nor should one whittle away
abounding miracles, particularly during the spring revival.
Chodesh Tov & Gut Chodesh
Shabbat Shalom & Good Shabbos,
R’ Dani and Chani Staum