Dear all,
While bike riding this week, I came across a magnificent bird—wings spread, ready for take-off
But it didn’t move.
It stood there, beak lifted, as if to say: “I’m ready… but not yet.”
How often do we find ourselves in that very place—ready for take off – when we pause (hesitate?) for any variety of reasons:
Perhaps we’re unsure it’s the right move.
Perhaps we feel safer where we are.
Perhaps there’s comfort in keeping our feet on the ground.
Perhaps we want just a little more time with someone we love.
Perhaps we’re afraid of losing our way.
Perhaps we cling to what we know, even when we sense it may be time to go.
At the very beginning of creation, the Torah teaches:
“The spirit of God hovered over the face of the deep.”
It didn’t move forward.
It hovered. Wings open. Just waiting.
Before creation begins, there is a moment of stillness—a sacred pause before motion.
And maybe that’s not hesitation at all.
Maybe that’s wisdom.
Because sometimes, the holiest thing we can do is not to rush into flight, but to stand there—wings open—until the moment in time is right.
And when the moment comes—when it truly arrives—
we will know.
And we will lift.
With love and Shalom,
Rabbi Zachary R. Shapiro
