The birds
“Return again. Return again.
Return to the land of our soul.”
The liturgy sings.
I hear it in my head.
This is the season of returning.
It’s quiet here.
A steaming cup of coffee,
Billowing clouds of whipped cream.
We thought it would be different by now.
Stay at home. Wear a mask. Wash your hands.
No guests for Shabbat dinner.
Inside,
It’s quiet. So very quiet.
Too quiet.
And lonely.
Ready to begin my morning,
I choose a book
Ready to read,
I open the back door,
Coffee cup and book in hand.
Ready to sit on the deck.
The music greets me.
It is anything but quiet
While the world was healing,
The birds returned:
Goldfinches, cardinals, robins, blue jays,
Canada geese, blue heron, sandhill crane.
A cacophony of color and sound.
They are the guests for new year.
Bringing hope.
We can return too.
Rabbi Margaret Frisch Klein is the rabbi of Congregation Kneseth Israel in Elgin, Illinois. She blogs at theenergizerrabbi.org. She enjoys watching the birds on her deck overlooking a retaining pond (that is dangerously low with the severe drought in Northern Illinois this year) or at her dentist’s office, where she gratefully watches the birds he feeds. She has noticed that the birds are more prevalent providing a noisy din during the pandemic. She hopes the pandemic has helped the earth itself to heal and for us to reset our priorities, living a more authentic life. She is a recipient of a Scientists in the Synagogue grant for bringing science and Torah to families in a program called “Parsha and Planets on the Prairie.”
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