A Jewish Idea- G-d's Beauty,thunderbolts and lightning, very very frightening... we have a blessing for that!

   

“Is there a blessing for the Czar?’ is perhaps one of the best-known phrases from Fiddler on the Roof and among the most insightful commentaries on Judaism ever offered. Literally, we have a blessing for everything, for there are deep yearnings within us to call out to the Heavens themselves in times of crisis and longing, in moments of celebration and thrill. Holding a baby, embracing a loved one, seeing a grand vista propel us into an-otherworldly realm and we need to say something. We Jews say brachot.

     Most Jews are aware of blessings for food. Some may remember that we may recite the Shecheyanu upon special occasions such as Jewish holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, receiving a new outfit or visiting a special place.

     Few Jews know that traveling to an ocean, desert or mountain range of extreme beauty deserves its own blessing. Last month, while strolling around Camp Ramah, my son Aaron and I saw a shooting star. “Look Aba,” he called out “we can say Oseh Ma-asey vreisheet!”  We did and we celebrated the beauty of the cosmos.

     Tomorrow, New Horizons, a deep space probe will nearly touch Pluto. Never before has humanity experienced in such an intimate manner this heavenly emblem of grand mystery. After nine years of journey and 3 billion miles travelled, a small payload of humanity’s most sophisticated devices will skate past Pluto and on into the ever-expanding mysteries of a little–known region, the Kuiper Belt. For decades to come, all humanity will know a bit more about this frozen enigma because of the arduous preparation of a corps of scientists, engineers, programmers and mathematicians. But it is only the tip of the iceberg; more mysteries shall remain-belonging only to the heavens and God. For this we say: Blessed are you, Lord, our god, King of the universe, Creator of all deeds of Creation.

Baruch atah adonai elohenu melech ha-olam Oseh Ma-asey vreisheet.

You may recite this blessing when seeing lightning, shooting stars, experiencing an eclipse or reveling in the images shared from New Horizons. You may recite these words when your eyes take hold of heavenly beauty and, with a lump in your throat, you seek words to express that which defies words.

Shalom.

Rabbi Steve Silberman