The Blessing of Springtime

For now the winter is passed
The rains are over and gone.
The blossoms have appeared in the land.
The time of pruning has come.
—Song of Songs 2:11

Spring has arrived in Southern California, along with the month of Nisan and the festival of Passover. Life erupts in new greenery, in buds and flowers, in the smallest hints of citrus bounty yet to be. In parks and gardens across the region, extravagant bouquets of color and fragrance contribute their offerings to a symphony of smell and sight. How delightful it is to get outside these days!

In my own yard, we are blessed with so much green! The pepper tree sports thousands of bright red peppercorns, the orange and tangerine trees have the most intense and fragrant white flowers — some of which are already showing the beginnings of oranges yet to be — and even the new pomegranate tree is erupting in new leaves as it stretches itself toward the sun.

How do we respond to nature’s resurgence? These new expressions of vitality evoke the deepest feelings of marvel, awe and joy, and we are invited to join the re-emergence into life through our presence, our attention and our words.

Presence

My wife and I took advantage of the week of Passover to walk through our neighborhood and venture out to several of the extraordinary parks and gardens that festoon Southern California: The Los Angeles Arboretum, Descanso Gardens, the Huntington. We placed ourselves before these trees, shrubs, flowers and ferns to remind ourselves that we are part of something bountiful and beautiful. It is a gift to be alive.

We placed ourselves before these trees, shrubs, flowers and ferns to remind ourselves that we are part of something bountiful and beautiful. It is a gift to be alive.

Attention

Jewish tradition calls it “kavanah,” and Asian traditions speak of mindfulness. It is good to emerge again into life; it is even better to be aware of that renewal. So we take time this week to appreciate the annual carnival that is spring, with its intense colors and smells and connections. In a place where words can only point, there is power and healing in placing ourselves in the presence of ancient redwoods, miniature bonsais or raucous roses and appreciate them in silent joy.

Words

Judaism offers an ancient heritage of words and blessings for (almost) every occasion. One such berakhah (blessing) is said annually when seeing the new blooms on flowering fruit trees for the first time, generally in the month of Nisan.

When we first see and smell these new blossoms, The ancient rabbis instruct us to offer praise: “You are bountiful, Holy One our God, Majesty of SpaceTime, whose world lacks nothing and Who created goodly creatures and trees in order that humans might enjoy them.” This is a farmer’s prayer and the prayer of an agricultural society. It invites us to notice and give thanks for the miracle of fruit-producing trees and food-producing plants, which make human life not only possible but celebratory. I invite you now, while it is still Nisan, to find a local fruit tree, inhale its beautiful perfume, rejoice at its new flowers and then say this berakhah as a way of giving thanks.

In our day of climate change, we should appreciate that nature does not merely exist to serve humanity but also is glorious and beautiful as its own entity. Can we also craft a new blessing, not to replace the old, but to express our awareness of the miracle of plants and trees — not just for how the benefit us, but for how they sustain all life and make our planet a paradise?

In that spirit, join me in a new blessing for an ancient appreciation: You are bountiful, Holy One our God, Majesty of SpaceTime, whose world reminds us that we still live in a Garden of Eden, a paradise of plants and animals, mountain and ocean, sustained by the drive to live and thrive that is a manifestation of your love. May it be Your will that the springtime renewal opens our hearts anew to the call of your creatures and opens our hands to sustaining the life of this beautiful jewel of a planet, our home.

Amen.

Rabbi Dr. Bradley Shavit Artson (www.bradartson.com), a Contributing Writer for the Jewish Journal, holds the Abner and Roslyn Goldstine Dean’s Chair of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies and is Vice President of American Jewish University in Los Angeles. He is also dean of the Zacharias Frankel College in Potsdam, Germany, ordaining Conservative rabbis for Europe.