Rabbi Marc D. Rudolph

Middy and I returned last week from a Jewish Heritage Tour of Argentina. After spending a week in Buenos Aires, we flew to Iguazu Falls on the Argentina-Brazil border. This natural wonder is comprised of around 275 individual waterfalls ranging from 200 to 270 feet. It is truly spectacular, jaw dropping.

There is something primordial about the falls. The Jewish blessing upon seeing such a wonder reflects this. “Barukh Atah Adonai, Oseh Ma-aseh Beraisheet” — Blessed are You, God, who forms the work of Creation. The blessing invokes the story of Creation in the Bible. It is as if you are there when the world is coming into being, witness to Creation itself.

Reflecting on the experience, I cannot help but think of the verses in Psalm 104:

You set loose the springs that gush into rivers, cascading down between mountains,
watering all the life of the plain and slaking the animals' thirst.
Above them dwell the birds of the sky, calling out from the tops of branches.
You let water flow from Your upper abode, down the mountain to sop the earth,
Ripening the grass for cattle and grains for people to harvest, bringing food out of the dirt............. 

Shabbat Shalom