Our hands are marvelous feats of engineering. Skin, muscles connective tissue, nerves, blood vessels and 27 bones afford us the opportunity of constructing, gripping, shaping, massaging and so much more. We can embrace and we can strike; we can clap, we can uplift and we can bring low.
Our hands, capable of brute force and causing terror, can caress and provide a loving touch. Imagine what we as a species would be without our hands! I remember as a child doodling on my hands. Occasionally, I see children drawing pictures or making notes upon their hands. Sometimes nurses and doctors, in the midst of an emergency, quickly scribble upon their hands for they have no time to waste in finding paper as their patients' lives are in their hands
Now ask yourself how often you have heard or used the phrase "in God's hands."
I do not imagine that many people think of God as literally having 10 fingers. However, the symbolism of being in God's hands is great. We instantly appreciate the drama of the gentleness offered, the potential for power, the capacity for reassurance, the artistry affected and so much more. As Creator, God fashions the universe of which we are a part. As lawgiver God handed the plaques of the 10 Great Words to us. As artist, God paints each unique sunset; as Lifesource, God cradles each of us at birth and death. Imagine God as writing a message upon God's own hands -a message intended for each and every one of us- a private, specific and unique message. Now see these hands, as enduring as Heaven itself, reaching out to you. How do you feel?
In this week's Haftarah we experience God as engraving upon God’s own hands the reassuring message that each of us will have a home in which to dwell. Of all the promises that God could make as we read this Haftarah two weeks after Tisha B'Av, why does Isaiah offer us a picture of God as homebuilder? It may be that Isaiah knew we all need to have a home; a sanctuary in which to feel secure from the threats of marauders, thieves, foes and onslaught. In our own days of the modern 21st Century we see many threats against our individual and communal lives. Do we not all seek a safe and secure home for ourselves and our loved ones?
Reflect upon the phrase "Behold I have engraved you upon the palms of my hands, your walls are ever before me"(Isaiah 49:16). In your own thoughts seek the reassurance of the faith expressed in Isaiah's Shabbat message. I hope we all can take hold of a Divine embrace and feel the gentle and vast power of God's own hands enfolding us in times of fear or need. May it be that God applauds for and rejoices with us in times of celebration as well.
Shabbat Shalom.
Rabbi Steve Silberman
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