{"id":71421,"date":"2023-01-13T02:43:04","date_gmt":"2023-01-13T07:43:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=71421"},"modified":"2023-01-13T02:43:04","modified_gmt":"2023-01-13T07:43:04","slug":"off-the-pulpit-the-prayer-of-natural-beauty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/off-the-pulpit-the-prayer-of-natural-beauty\/","title":{"rendered":"Off the Pulpit: The Prayer of Natural Beauty"},"content":{"rendered":"

By RABBI DAVID WOLPE<\/p>\n

In his later years, the renowned Rabbi, Samson Raphael Hirsch, suddenly announced that he was going to Switzerland to climb in the Alps. “Why?” asked his astonished students. “Because when I come face to face with the Creator of the universe,” mused Hirsch, “I know He will look down at me and say ‘So, Shimshon, did you see My Alps?'”<\/p>\n

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The Talmud advises that one should pray only in a room which has windows. To sing to God and not see God’s world is a contradiction. The word “chuppah” in the marriage ceremony once referred to the traditional covering of the bride and groom — Chuppat Shamayim — the canopy of the heavens, what the poet Housman called \u201cthe star pavilioned sky.\u201d<\/p>\n

Humanity begins in a garden. Judaism continues using natural metaphors: the Torah is likened to a tree, the Talmud to a sea, the human spirit to wind. When we feel the cycle of seasons and are awestruck by natural majesty and beauty, we are offering a deep, authentic prayer to God.<\/p>\n

Rabbi David Wolpe is the senior rabbi of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles.<\/em><\/p>\n

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