תהו ובהו

 For a week where words fail us…I wanted to reflect on the bookends of this parsha that speak to our despair and devastation.

When G!d began to create the heavens and the earth –

(Or perhaps, In the beginning of G!d’s creation of the heavens and the earth)

The earth was a place of chaos and confusion, and emptiness and waste, and darkness was upon the face of the abyss, and the breath of G!d brooding over the face of the waters…

(Read Jeremiah 4:23 onward for another use of this)

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G!d said, “I will wipe out the human(kind) which I created from upon the face of the earth’s (terrain), from human(kind) even with the beast(s), even with the creeping things, and even with the flying creatures of the skies – because I am sorry that I made them –

But Noah found acceptance in the eyes of G!d.

This heavy week has felt endless, feels endless – the overarching loss of life, fighting without hope of relinquishment, anger and rage, a darkness of reality and spirit. This week, the moments of lifting up came in communal prayer, sharing together in pain – but not a release. I have been sitting with this prayer (in an arrangement I love from Deborah Sacks Mintz):

הֱיֵה נָא קָרוֹב לְשַׁוְעָתֵנוּ
יְהִי־נָא חַסְדְּךָ לְנַחֲמֵנוּ
כִּי אַתָּה יְהֹוָה הָעוֹנֶה בְּעֵת צָרָה
פּוֹדֶה וּמַצִּיל בְּכָל־עֵת צָרָה וְצוּקָה

𝐻𝑒’𝑦𝑒𝑖ℎ 𝑛𝑎 𝑘𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑣 𝑙’𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑢
𝑌𝑒ℎ𝑖-𝑛𝑎 ℎ𝑎𝑠’𝑑𝑒𝑘ℎ𝑎 𝑙’𝑛𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑎’𝑚𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑢
𝐾𝑖 𝑎𝑡𝑎 𝐻𝑎𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑚 ℎ𝑎-𝑜𝑛𝑒ℎ 𝑏’𝑒𝑖𝑡 𝑡𝑧𝑎𝑟𝑎
𝑃𝑜𝑑𝑒ℎ 𝑢’𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑧𝑒𝑒𝑙 𝑏’𝑘ℎ𝑜𝑙-𝑒𝑡 𝑡𝑧𝑎𝑟𝑎 𝑏’𝑡𝑧𝑢𝑘𝑎ℎ

 Please be near to our cry
Let Your loving kindness console us
For You, G!d, are the One who answers in time of trouble
Who redeems and rescues in all times of trouble and distress