This is no joke. Heed the weather warnings for your area. There are isolated thunderstorms, hail and yes, even some tornados. No, I don’t believe these are plagues. Even though we are a week out from Passover and this Shabbat is called Shabbat Hagadol, the Great Passover. 

Tonight, we are going to look at how our tradition treats weather phenomena. Precisely because we have had lessons in it right here, right now, this week. 

Some of you are in my adult Hebrew class. We’ve been looking at the prayer Ma’ariv Aravim. The rabbis of the Talmud who codified this prayer and its parallel one in the morning service Yotzer Or. The language is beautiful. Poetic. The rabbis knew that for many people the way into G-d is being wowed by creation. That could be a mountain top (hard in Illinois), an ocean or an inland sea, a sunrise, a sunset, So many possibilities. This week, at the continuation of the changing of the seasons and the beautiful display of planets, I just want to call to your attention one line: You open the wisdom the ages of dawn…set out the succession of the seasons and arrange the stars in the sky.” Tonight, before sunset I took a picture of buds. Spring really is coming! How many of you were able to see the five planets aligned. A rare astrological occurrence. It was awesome! That’s the kind of thing this prayer is talking about.  

If we were to rewrite this prayer for our modern times, it might be full of awe and gratitude. 

Blessed are You, Ruler of the Universe, of time and space, who creates human beings who appreciate nature and are inspired by the changing seasons and the stars in the sky. How ineffable. How mysterious. We cannot fully express our gratitude for the beauty of Your creation. We have the capacity to be loved and give love and give back to the universe and strive for peace. Blessed are You, creator of darkness and light, night and day.  

(During the service there were numerous interruptions as weather alerts kept happening. People said that their sirens were going off. I calmly told people if they needed to go to their basement or find another safe space, they should. We wondered if we should even log off entirely. It was the scariest service I have ever led and I would not want to do it again!) 

Now let’s go back. The kabbalat shabbat service is arranged with 7 psalms, one for each day of the week. Many have something to say about G-d’s creation. Let’s look at snippets of them,  

Psalm 95: “In God’s hand rest the world, God fashioned. Seand and land, abyss and mountain peak. All are God’s. This seems to parallel the beginning of Yotzer Or which praises God for all things. Blessed are You…who forms light and creates darkness, who makes peace and creates all things.” Really? Tornados? Murderers? We’ll have to keep thinking about this! 

Psalm 96: “Let the heavens rejoice. Let the earth be glad. Le the sea and all it contains exalt. Let field and forest sing for joy.” How do we know when the heavens are rejoicing? On a beautiful sunny day? During a beautiful sunrise or sunset? Many of you have told me know during a snow storm but they can be quite beautiful and awe inspiring!  

Psalm 97: God’s lightning illumines the earth. (Trust me, God, I could use a little less lighting and a little less thunder right now. My dog would appreciate that, too ((that may be a prayer!))…Light is stored for the righteous, the tzadikim and joy for the upright in heart.”  

Psalm 98: Let the sea roar, and all its creature; the world and its many inhabitants. Let the rivers applaud in exaltation, let the mountains all echo earth’s joyous song. 

Psalm 29 which we also use during the Torah service talks about the voice of God seven times. This is the powerful, booming voice of God, reminiscent of the 10 Commandments. This is a voice that thunders, roars and echoes. It can shatter cedars and split rocks and strips a forest bare. This is a God to be feared. And yet, it ends on a re-assuring note. God will bless God’s people with strength and with peace. 

Then we get to Psalm 92—the Psalm for Shabbat itself. It praises God, saying “Your works, Adonai make me glad; I sing with joy of Your creation. How vast works, Adonai. Your designs are beyond our grasp! And that may be the point. The Psalmists and the rabbis of the Talmud were right. Being outside in nature is to have a WOW! Moment. To be inspired. To be awed. By the power, the might, the beauty.  

It is especially true after hurricanes. Often some Evangelical Christian pastor will blame a group of people—gays, Jews, blacks, for not living up to God’s word as he (it’s always a he, right?) interprets it and so God is punishing an entire community. Sadly, it is not just Christians. We’ve seen it with some segments of the Orthodox rabbinate too. This logic has been applied to COVID-19 as well. I don’t want to give them any additional air time, so I am not footnoting these references, but you can search for them if you must.  

However, it is not hard to see how they draw conclusions based on our common scripture. In the second paragraph of the V’ahavta which we recite every day from Deuteronomy 11, we are told that if we heed the commandments then G-d will favor our land with rain at the proper season. In autumn and spring we will have an abundance of grain, wine, and oil (All the things we need to make Shabbat!). We will eat to contentment. (I’ve always liked that line!) BUT, if we stray and worship false gods, then God’s wrath will be directed against us.  

Some have argued that this is only for the land of Israel. Others have argued that it is a very early warning about climate change. I have a hard time, as I said at the beginning blaming people for causing the wrath of God. Thinking that God is punishing us for some sin or other.  

Back then, the writers of our sacred liturgy that we use today didn’t have the scientific knowledge that we have today. Do I think that God is sending tonight’s weather as a punishment for something we have done, or not done? No. Absolutely not. 

But I am still wowed by the view from a mountain top or a sunset over Lake Michigan and I add my voice to rabbis of long ago. “Could song fill our mouth as water fills the sea and could joy flood our tongue like countless waves. Could our lips utter praise as limitless as the sky and could our eyes match the splendor of the sun. Could we soar with arms like an eagle’s wings and run with the gentle grace as the swiftest deer, never could we fully state our gratitude.” That’s awe.  

(More wind. Lights flickering. Remember to breathe. Ruach, is breath is Hebrew. It is also spirit. Ruach. Remember to breath.) 

Hannah Shenesh penned a poem much more recently than the rabbis of the Talmud or the Psalmists:
O Lord, My G-d, I pray that these things never end.
The sand and the sea.
The rush of the water.
The crash of the heaven.
The prayer of the heart. 

This is my prayer tonight! 

(If the only Torah I taught tonight was pekuach nefesh, preserving a life, I think I succeeded. I hope I was a non-anxious presence, through the wind, rain and hail. We were lucky. We had no damage. We never lost power. I have some friends in a neighboring town with significant tree damage and a fence. We mourn the loss of live in Belvedere when a roof collapsed, killing one and injuring 40. Two remain in critical as of this writing.)