Taking The Time To Examine (and Re-Examine) The Burning Bush

What a whirlwind of a week it has been! Matzah baking, Haggadah making, frogs here, frogs there, frogs are jumping everywhere! It is so beautiful to watch the many ways that the children have integrated these Passover stories into their play, their work, and into their very marrow. Children are crossing the Red Sea in the gym, and they are playing Pharaoh in the dramatic play area as they command their friends “no, no, no I will not let you go.” They are making desert animals out of model magic, and they are hiding the afikomin around the room. They are tasting matzah in every form, they are caring for baby Moses in baskets, they are singing the Passover songs as they walk up the stairs, they are stitching Matzah covers, and they are asking questions – so many questions.

As I watch the children each year being so inspired by the themes of Passover and watch them discover new aspects to the holiday with the brilliant leadership of their teachers, I am at once awed and intimidated. What does it mean for us adults as we face Passover for yet another year? Clearly the annual repetition of this holiday is part of the design, for we are commanded to tell and retell the story of Passover. Implicit in this plan is the expectation that we try to find new meaning, new lessons, new depth each year. In the first century, a famous scholar named Ben Bag-Bag wrote about this repetitive approach: “Turn it, and turn it, for everything is in it. Reflect on it and grow old and gray with it.” (Pirkei Avot 5:22). Bag-Bag is encouraging us to study these stories over and over to keep looking at new facets. In his comment that we grow old and gray with it, I believe he is suggesting that meaning will also come as we keep changing. As we grow from rebellious adolescents to free young adults, as we become parents, as we become “bosses” of other people, as our children begin to engage with the story, and as we continue to age, the meaning continues to change and grow. But these new lessons will only come if we take the time to turn these stories over, to pick up a Haggadah before the seder, to read some articles online, to try a new recipe, to think about the themes of this holiday, to learn a new melody, to somehow engage in this turning and turning.

As I prepare for Passover this year I am struck by one of the earlier parts of the story, in which Moses encounters the Burning Bush. This dramatic moment is one that often sparks curiosity for the children, and for many adults, as it is a rare moment when God or the voice of God is present in a physical manifestation. It is a striking passage in the Torah when we first encounter Moses tending his sheep and he stumbles upon a flame rising out of a bush that is not consumed. The Torah reads, “So Moses said: I must go over to look at this great sight; why it is not burned up.” It is said there are no extra words in the Torah, so why is it important to mention that Moses says I have to go and look? The Torah explains in Exodus Chapter 3: “God saw that Moses turned aside to look, and then God called to him out of the bush: Moses! Moses!” The Torah seems to emphasize that God responded after Moses turned aside to look. God seems to be impressed that Moses takes the time to turn aside and look.

Any harried New Yorker can understand why Moses gets all this attention for stopping to notice the burning bush. I imagine that small brush fires might have been relatively common in the desert. What made this bush notable was that it was not consumed. To notice this subtlety would take more time and attention. Moses was busy tending his sheep and could have easily felt that he needed to rush home or corral his animals. But he turned aside to look. He had to stop and let time pass, to note that the bush remained unchanged. Is this not the perfect lesson on the benefits of mindfulness!?! Were it not for Moses’ ability to be present and attentive, who knows where the fate of the Jewish people might be now or whether there would ever have been a Jewish people!

As I head into Passover, with all of the busy-ness that it entails, the image of Moses stopping to examine the bush carefully will remain with me. There are so many amazing things to notice in our lives – from the miracles within our home, to the bustle of our amazing city, there are wondrous “bushes.” As Rabbi Jamie Korngold instructs in her book God in the Wilderness, “whether we live in Manhattan or Montana, cultivate the patience to see burning bushes… When we marvel at the world around us, we prepare to meet the miracles that await us, around most every corner.”

Wishing you all a Passover season filled with wonder and a mindful place within you to notice!

Ilana

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Ilana Ruskay-Kidd

Ilana has been serving the Jewish educational community in New York City in multiple capacities for the past twelve years. Most recently, she served as the Director of The Saul and Carole Zabar Nursery School at the JCC in Manhattan. Prior to being named to this position in 2006, she worked at the JCC as Director of Young Families and then as Senior Director of Family Life, supervising programs serving families and children from birth to eighteen years old. Ilana began her teaching career at the Central Park East school in Harlem and went on to become a founding teacher at the Ella Baker School, an alternative public school in Manhattan. She then worked as an Early Childhood Curriculum Consultant for the Children's Aid Society where she developed curricula with directors and teachers in day care, Head Start and private nursery school programs throughout the city.

Ilana received her B.A. from Harvard College and a Master's Degree in Education from Bank Street College. She was born and raised on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and now lives there with her husband and three children.

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