Blessings Like Dew - Shabbat Chol Ha-Moed Pesach

This week's Torah reading is assigned to the Shabbat during Passover. In it, Moses approaches God in order to replace the first set of the Ten Commandents, broken when Moses witnessed the Israelites' worship of the golden calf, and culminates with a list of the festivals and the commandment to observe them. It is because of this last part, where the Feast of Unleavened Bread is specifically mentioned, that these verses are read this Shabbat.

Maybe you've had your fill of matzah? (I actually haven't, yet.) So, instead of writing about the Torah text, I figured I'd talk about another significant moment connected with Passover. Passover begins the dry season in Israel, but here in Minnesota, little green leaves are appearing on tree branches, tulip leaves are pushing their way through soil and mulch, and as I write this it is raining. Even though the rainy season is ending in Israel, it is still becoming Spring there, so now, perhaps more than ever, water is important.

During the service that takes place the first morning of Passover, we recite a blessing called Tefilat ha-Tal, the Prayer for Dew. It is a prayer that asks for the land of Israel to be abundant, for its plants and animals to lack nothing. It concludes with the request for the wind to blow and the dew to appear. Dew becomes a fleeting, yet important blessing, for the plants in Israel, something they need to survive. Before the days of modern irrigation technology, the lack of dew would have meant a lack of food.

As we near the end of Passover, think about the fleeting blessings that appear in your life and the ways in which you can soak them in, much like the plants in Israel that benefit from the fleeting presence of dew.