I heard the following Midrash repeatedly from my teacher, Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi:
Rabbi Simeon ben Yehozadak asked Rabbi Samuel bar Nahman, saying: “Since I hear that you are a master of Aggadah [sacred lore], tell me how light was created.”
Rabbi Samuel bar Nahman replied: “God wrapped God-self in a white garment, and the radiance of God’s majesty illuminated the world from one end to the other.”
Now he had answered him in a whisper, and so the former observed, “There is a verse which states it explicitly: ‘You wrap yourself with light as with a garment’ (Psalm 104:2), yet you say it in a whisper!”
“Just as I heard it in a whisper, so have I told it to you in a whisper,” he replied.
–Midrash: Bereisheet Rabbah 3:4
Traditions taught about the hidden light being revealed through Torah, prayer, or deeds. In this Midrash, it is the revealed (the verse from Psalms) which is hidden (by being stated in a whisper). How does the way we view or teach about the world change our understanding? Can everyday experiences, from sunrise every morning, assume miraculous importance if we approach them with awe and reverence, sharing our sense of wonder “in a whisper”? Is the miracle of light, the divine light in all creation, truly “hidden in plain sight?”
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
–attributed to Albert Einstein
Featured Image: Sunrise in South Florida, JHD
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