4/3/20 Shabbat HaGadol - "Wherever We Go, There Will Be Birds To Cheer You" (John Barlow & Brett Mydland - "I Will Take You Home")

           I heard the most re-assuring sound this morning. We sleep with our bedroom window slightly opened. Well, around the time when I normally wake up along with the sunrise, I heard the sounds of birds chirping. It took me a second to realize that birds were chirping, but as I opened my eyes and saw the clear blue sky and the first rays of sunlight, the sweet sounds of birds chirping re-assured me. It sounded like spring outside, it looked like spring outside and when I went downstairs and stepped outside for a moment to breathe; it started to smell like spring. It used to be, that after the smell, sounds, sights and inhaling the fresh spring air occurred, I would check the baseball scores and see how my team did the night before. Well, with no baseball due to COVID-19, there was no baseball.  Still, I felt a sense of reassurance, a sense of normalcy, a sense that something out there was working correctly. Yes, spring technically began two weeks ago. And in the more southern parts of North America, it has felt like spring for weeks if not a couple of months. Here in Toronto, the sensations of spring arrive a little later and we look forward to it with a bit more anticipation and eagerness.  Eventually, it arrives. Time and the movement of time still occurs. The sun rises and sets. days come and go, and one Shabbat ends and 7 days later we arrive at another.   One season ends and to mark the new season we prepare for and celebrate a festival. Indeed, this isn't just an ordinary Shabbat. This is Shabbat HaGadol The Great Shabbat. It is the Shabbat that immediately proceeded Pesach. Pesach begins this coming Wednesday night. Besides celebrating and commemorating the story of the Yetziat Mitzrayim (the Exodus from Egypt) we also acknowledge and celebrate Spring. Pesach is also known as Chag Ha'Aviv - The Festival of Spring.

           So maybe, while we watch the news, while so much of our daily lives are just different, while we step outside and create a 6ft/2meter bubble around us, while we wait in line to walk into a supermarket or a bank, while we spend so much of our day looking at the computer screen or a phone connecting to friends and family, while we have been forced to do so many things differently compared to how we did them months ago; hearing those birds chirp re-assures me that some things remain constant.  Shabbat still arrives, The birds still chirp as the sun rises. With Shabbat's imminent arrival, the preparations still need to be made, and the familiar smells begin to waft through the house. So,  we take comfort and find reassurance that some things continue to work as they always have.

Shabba Shalmom \U'Mevorach and Chag Kasher v'Sameach,\
Rav Yitz

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