Appreciating the Rain

Racheli Morris, Director of Education

TBEeducator@bethelsp.org

Through some rain, we see the world around us change. At the  school, we recently had a very exciting and meaningful Grandparents day where the students and their families got to enjoy an educational event celebrating grandparents. I think of my own grandparents at times like these events and they were instrumental in helping me to be the woman I am today. Their celebrations, hardships, courage, accomplishments, and strength helped to make a vibrant Israel for us to all cherish and love.

This time of the year in Israel is crucial to the harvest. Since Sukkot we have been saying our prayers for rain. This is usually done during the recitation of the Amidah when the words, mo’reed ha gashem are added. We will stop those prayers during Passover. The rain changes the land from dry and rough to moist and verdant.

As the yearly seasons have an impact on the agriculture of the land I have been thinking about the seasons we have in life. Particularly, the role that aging has in our lives. When my Safta – grandmother was but the age of my daughter, could she imagine how the world would change around her. From Libya to Israel, from a time when people barely knew electricity to now when we carry supercomputers in our pockets that let us talk and see loved ones from around the world. What about her teens and becoming a woman? The softness of her life would go against the backdrop of desert, an ancient homeland to a new homeland to raise children of her own in Israel.

The dry season of life is a long period that is punctuated, God willing, with the different Oases that comes from birth and renewal. The juxtaposition of the dry season and the wet season is a miracle. We know that the journey through life is never easy. The grandparents prepare a garden for the grandchildren. The parents go forth from the home to earn daily bread and shelter. The society invests in its children. This has been an effort reaching beyond antiquity.

Our grandparent’s event, to me, was like a gentle rain that provides life, wellness, blessing, and the reward of being able to have descended from the great ones. I hope this note finds you in a place where you can appreciate the rain and celebrate the life it gives us all.