Rabbi Marc D. Rudolph

“Blessed are You, Sovereign of the Universe, who keeps us in life, who sustains us, and who enables us to reach this time.”

The Shehecheyanu blessing is recited at moments when we feel joy and gratitude simply for being alive. It expresses thanks for God’s gift of allowing us to arrive at a meaningful moment in time. We say it at the beginning of Jewish festivals, when tasting a fruit for the first time in its season, when donning new clothing, and at other significant milestones in the cycle of life.

At the Friday night services we attend, the rabbi invites congregants to share what she calls “Shehecheyanu moments” from the past week. People speak of special birthdays, graduations, or the accomplishments of loved ones. Children tell us they made a new friend or lost a tooth. Last week, I shared this Shehecheyanu moment of my own.

When I was a child, a large lilac bush grew outside my bedroom window. For a few weeks each spring, I would fall asleep to the scent of lilacs drifting into the room. Ever since, I have loved lilacs. When we moved to our new home three years ago, I was delighted to discover a mature lilac on the side of the house. The first spring it did not blossom. My wife pruned it and fertilized it, and this year, abundant lilac flowers appeared outside our dining room window.

Last Friday evening, as we sat down to dinner and I raised my cup to recite Kiddush, I noticed a bumblebee flitting from blossom to blossom. Then I saw another pollinator — more elongated than a bumblebee. At first I thought it might be a wasp or a hornet, but when I looked closer, I realized it was a hummingbird. This tiny creature had come to help us welcome the Sabbath.

Sometimes signs of holiness arrive not with thunder and lightning, but in small, quiet moments of wonder.