Healing Well of Miriam

ב״ה

Sunday, April 11, 2010 / 27 Nisan 5770

Earthquake

Last week, Sunday April 4, was my daughter’s birthday.

It was 20 Nisan 5770, the 6th day of Pesach, the 5th day of the counting of the Omer. At midnight of the dawning of the 7th day of Pesach, the Red Sea parted to allow Israel to cross in front of the army of Pharaoh.

In San Diego, at 3:40pm on that day last week, there was an earthquake. I was writing about the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy when the room began to shake. I thought the intensity might increase, maybe even so much as to cause the house to fall, so I went outside.

I remembered the first earthquake I experienced—in Washington state before Yael, my daughter was born. Mount St. Helen’s eruption caused a number of after shocks. And I remembered the next one I experienced—in Israel while living near the Jordan Valley that conducted the quake from Damascus to Cairo. Yael, then school age, ran screaming to jump into bed with me at 5 something in the morning.

When the quake hit San Diego, the time was 1:40am in Israel—a little after the anniversary of the parting of the Sea, but close enough to make one think about it.

The epicenter of the quake was just over the border in Mexicali. At first the reported intensity was 6.9, but later the experts said it had been 7.2. The recent quakes in Chile and Haiti had been 7 something and had caused a lot of damage. The difference, they told us, was that this quake sent its shock waves down 20 miles into the earth, so most of the energy was absorbed by the earth. If it had been more on the surface, there would have been a lot of damage. Baruch Hashem, we were spared that.

Natural disasters seem to be on the increase, indicating a destabilization. The Prophets warned of this as the “awesome Day of Hashem” would approach. The Prophet Joel said there will be wonders in the heavens and on the earth (3:3). The Prophet Ezekiel spoke of a great earthquake when Gog steps foot on the soil of Israel (38:18-19). Zechariah says an earthquake that will split the Mount of Olives (14:4)—again during a war. So, yes, disasters are prophesied, and many people get stuck right there in the fear of the thing. There are so many disaster movies out now, and they are so realistic in their story-lines of doom. Add to that the conspiracy theories, and people can really get frightened to the point of it being crippling. It’s almost like a religion of hopelessness and despair. And sometimes, if you listen closely enough, it sounds like there’s a certain glee in the excitement of the speaker. WHY?! They’re disseminating bad news with no answers! And that’s my complaint—there are no answers even being sought by most of the people excitedly sowing gloom.

This is only half the story. The Prophets do NOT stop there. They go on to say there is hope after “the smoke has cleared.” There is a new world. There is a new way. There is a chance for peace that we have had allude us for so many millennia. The picture that is presented by the Prophets shows that we ourselves take part in this change. There are answers, and Hashem is not withholding them from those who care to seek. The changes in the world do come from Him, but they also involved Mankind. The healing of the world cannot take place without the participation of human beings. It requires a shift in our consciousness, which will not happen if we latch onto the hopeless message of the disaster and conspiracy mongers. And perhaps, there is even a way that we could avoid the devastation altogether, if we actively search for, and embrace, the tools to heal our world—beginning with ourselves.

The hawkers of doom leave us with the impression that there is no recourse, that everything is random. Each generation has a role in the history of the world that brings us to the completion of the rectification that we call Redemption. Each generation has exactly the souls meant to play a part in that scene in the great saga of human history. This generation is no different. Each person is here for a purpose. I think of this when I look at my daughters and granddaughters. What manner of souls are these? What is their part in this play that they came into the world to perform? Each one has the potential to draw down a piece of the answer for the dilemma of our world. But we have to wake up and become conscious of who we truly are!—and maybe, sometimes, we need a little shaking for that to happen.