CBI Blogs

Shalom Chaverim,

I had decided what I wanted to write about for this week’s blog last evening. Before we all woke up to the horrifying news of the shooting deaths of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, two Israeli Embassy staffers. The couple had just attended an event at the Jewish Museum in Washington, DC where young professional diplomats were gathered to discuss foreign policy and interfaith messaging (and the work that can be done across communities) with respect to the humanitarian aid situation in Gaza. In just a couple of weeks they were to be in Jerusalem where Yaron had plans to ask Sarah to marry him. Our hearts are shattered as we send nothing but love and strength into the world for their loved ones who are now planning funerals instead of an engagement party.

With this and so many other terrible headlines in our news I am going to stand by what I initially wanted to write about. I believe, at this current moment, we need a massive toolbox for how to care for ourselves amidst the challenges we face. So, even though we are angry, shocked, dismayed, sad, and disappointed I am going to invite you to join me on a quest for inner peace.

Earlier this week a member of our greater temple community shared the recording of a sermon given by Texas State Representative James Talarico at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church on Easter Sunday. In his opening remarks, James shared this wonderful quote from Albert Einstein that I had not heard before: “There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle.” 

At 7:30 or so this past Saturday evening Jonathan and I got in line to board a plane to Phoenix, AZ. It has become a tradition for us to take two to four days in May to board a direct flight from Austin to somewhere and take a break from our day to day. One year we found ourselves in Utah – post mud-season and pre-spring/summer travel season where it snowed on us in Park City. In 2023 it was a longer trip to celebrate Rebekah’s graduation from high school in Israel (so, not a direct flight either). Last year the plane took us to Las Vegas where we balanced the brightness of the strip with the beauty of hiking in Red Rock Canyon.

I had never been to Arizona and hadn’t really given it any thought. I had heard about it being hot and dry but that was pretty much all I knew. As we were only there for two nights and back on a plane at 7:30 on Monday evening we just scratched the surface of what there was to see and explore.

Sunday morning, being the cooler of our two opportunities, we went to the Desert Botanical Garden. We saw so many cool cacti. Wow. The variety was incredible. As we made our way along the winding paths, we found ourselves stopped to watch the antics of what onlookers said were ground squirrels (further online research confirms them to be Round-tailed ground squirrels). As we were enamored with these small rodents a pair of Gambel’s quail strolled by, pecking at the desert ground while the squirrels did squirrel things.

As we continued our stroll along the path, curious about what we would see next, I was struck by the miracle of experiencing this wildlife in what, from a distance at least, appeared to be a lifeless land of rocks and cacti. At closer examination, this couldn’t have been further from the truth.

From the bees in the blooms of the Southwestern barrel cactus, to the Elf Owl safe in its home in a Saguaro cactus that had been abandoned by a woodpecker from season’s past, to a Gilded flicker and Gila woodpecker both feeding on nectar out of the blooms at the very top of a Saguaro cactus, to hummingbirds, Mourning Doves, and a pair of quail with their many chicks as they crossed our path, the desert is very much alive.

And so are we. Amidst the challenging news cycle that brings so much sadness and heartache, in a time when so many things are true at the same time we are alive, and we get to choose for ourselves: do we live as though nothing is a miracle or as though everything is a miracle?

I know that I have made the choice to see miracles amidst chaos. My heart needs this as does my nervous system as does my relationship with humanity. I hope that you will join me as we find peace together experiencing the miracles that play out in front of us every day.

Shabbat Shalom.