Merle Feld

Spring, yes! Every day now I am thrilled and mesmerized walking in and out of the house as I pass and linger over the little front yard garden - it seems only a week or so ago there was still ugly dirty ice weighing down branches, unclear if the shrubs had survived this terrible winter. And now everything magically lush, green, restored, with bulbs emerging so quickly it almost looks like time lapse photography. Thank you God, thank you for restoring my soul.

It feels entirely related to Pesach, evokes for me a poem from my new book Finding Words -


Passover miracle


that we find our spring selves again,
shed the thick protective layers of winter
that shield but separate us
from the world out there.

We sit at the seder table
tired, yes, from all the work of preparation,
but hoping to be refreshed,
hoping in spirit to be refreshed.

Sitting at the seder table
we encounter
our younger selves,
wide-eyed, asking questions.

We become each year once again
the four sons, child-like,
spring-like, ready each year once again
to go out from Egypt

with nothing
but a pack on our back,
ready to walk once again
out into the wilderness

in search of our freedom
and our God.

(c)Merle Feld Finding Words URJ Press 2011


May the season and the holiday bring you renewal, insight, courage, as you walk out once again into the wilderness in search of your freedom and your God.