Rabbi Janine's Messages

Dear Community, 

On this Shabbat before the Super Bowl in which the Philadelphia Eagles take on the Kansas City Chiefs, I’m going to begin this Shabbat message by saying I’m first and foremost a New Orleans Saints fan.Who Dat! 

But, as someone who grew up in the area and lived many years in the city of Philadelphia, I am always excited when the Eagles are doing well. I’m looking forward to this Sunday spending time with my family watching the game. 

All of this was a sort of preamble leading up to what I really wanted to share in this message which is that among the descriptions and names for Gd in the Torah (of which there are many!) one of the most striking is that of a mother eagle. 

It’s there in Moses’ last instruction to the Israelites in Deut. 32:11. Moses tells the Israelites that Gd found the Israelites in an empty place. Then, like an eagle tending its nest, God hovered over them. 

[God] found them in a desert region,
In an empty howling waste.
[God] engirded them, watched over them,
Guarded them as the pupil of God’s eye.
Like an eagle who rouses its nestlings,
Gliding down to its young,
So did [God] spread wings and take them,
Bear them along on pinions;

The same word and image of Gd “hovering” also appears in the beginning of the Torah in the creation story. When Gd first creates heaven and earth in Gen 1:2, the earth was chaotic and empty. And the spirit of God hovers over the deep waters. 

In both of these texts we see Gd as a presence which soars above the wilderness. She (and how often does the Torah say that?!) lands on Her nest and hovers over it. There, Gd incubates the world.

In Deuteronomy especially we see a depiction of Gd not only as an eagle, but a mother caring for Her flock. The metaphor continues in Deuteronomy 32:13: 

[God] set [the Israelites] atop the highlands,
To feast on the yield of the earth;
Nursing them with honey from the crag,
And oil from the flinty rock. 

More important than who wins Sunday (I hope it’s the Eagles) is that within our rich Jewish tradition there are many names and many ways to connect with the Divine, including imagery that may surprise and, hopefully, delight us.

That is definitely something worth celebrating. 

Shabbat Shalom, 
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Rabbi Janine Jankovitz