by Rabbi Shira Shazeer Many months after the world changed
After worry, adjustment, connections lost and found Relearning how to live How to work How to family How to community After holding on Holding together Holding, holding, I took to the open road Family in tow To see the land and the wonder it holds To reach out and in and rediscover Who am I Wherever I am In this world I am no Thoreau Not Diana of the Dunes Alone with the world In quiet contemplation Rugged self sufficiency Blissful isolation I sought the beauty and peace of the world With a soundtrack of the sounds of children Filled with wonder, with hunger, with blisters With games, with worries, with joy With singing, with arguing, with whistling And nature teemed with humanity With so many people All searching for peace and awe All in need of relief Of renewal Of wonder All seeking something Beyond home, mask, screen One cool afternoon From a parking lot, slowly emptying We crossed the road and descended Sometimes it is necessary to descend Before we can rise. From the rim of an ancient volcano Into the crater Trees hanging on To the steep incline of rock and soil Down Down To the lake The water clear Blue Pure Guarded Humanity had come here Carefully Respectfully To love, and nurture To feel the power Of this pristine place We arrived late The throngs gone for the day Or leaving as we came At the top of a mountain In the crater of a volcano In the deepest, clearest, bluest lake I immersed body and soul The cold and wet Startling Spreading through my tired limbs and spiritual hiding places Numbing Soothing the pain and tension that build up there when I am too busy to notice Invigorating restorative fresh Living Water The world spins on Changing And unchanging I am ready to return Refreshed Rabbi Shira Shazeer spent this summer traveling and blogging on Shlepn Nakhes, the Great American Pandemic Road Trip with her husband and three children. She studied in the Scholars Circle at Drisha Institute for Jewish Education, received rabbinic ordination from Hebrew College in 2010, and looks forward to completing an additional masters in Jewish Education, with a focus on special education, in the coming year. After many years serving as school rabbi of a small Jewish day school, Rabbi Shazeer is looking forward to new professional adventures teaching in the learning center at Gann Academy starting this fall.
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