Help Me Stop The Rain Prediction from Our Outdoor Wedding!
The Talmudic
sage Rabbi Yochanan taught:
As with the beginning of life, so with its end. Despite all the medical advancements and extended life expectancy, we still can't bring someone back from the dead. We believe the time will come when G-d will revive the dead and our departed loved ones will live again. In the meantime, death is the final frontier that man cannot conquer.
Then, in between birth and death, there's the weather. We can't control the rain. You can plan an outdoor function months in advance, only to see your plans upturned by a sudden downpour. A huge sporting event with tens of thousands of spectators can be rained out and called off within minutes.
And when there's a drought we pray for rain, but we can't force it to come.
All the scientific research can't explain the mysteries of childbirth. And all the medical know-how can't bring the dead back to life. And all the brooms in every tree can't stop it raining. We need to humbly look up to the heavens, and acknowledge that those keys are not in our hands.
This acknowledgement is the antidote to what's known in Greek as hubris, or in Latin as chutzpah :)
Humans can be arrogant sometimes, thinking we are in control and have the power to do whatever we want. But we didn't choose when to be born. We can't come back when we die. And we can't do anything if it rains on our party. We need to trust that G-d does His job, and we should get on with ours.
Note: Jewish law encourages seeking fertility treatments under rabbinical guidance
There
are three keys that G-d holds, and never hands over to anyone else. They are
the key to rain, the key to childbirth, and the key to revival of the dead.
No
matter how advanced our society becomes, no matter how much progress we make in
technology and science, and no matter how many superstitious magic tricks we
perform, some things are simply out of human control.
The
mystery of creating new life still baffles us. The greatest doctors cannot
explain why some people conceive a child with ease, while others have so much
difficulty. We are privileged to live in a time with so many options for
assisted fertility. But in the end only G-d can decide when a baby is to be
born. The key to life is in His hands.
As with the beginning of life, so with its end. Despite all the medical advancements and extended life expectancy, we still can't bring someone back from the dead. We believe the time will come when G-d will revive the dead and our departed loved ones will live again. In the meantime, death is the final frontier that man cannot conquer.
Then, in between birth and death, there's the weather. We can't control the rain. You can plan an outdoor function months in advance, only to see your plans upturned by a sudden downpour. A huge sporting event with tens of thousands of spectators can be rained out and called off within minutes.
And when there's a drought we pray for rain, but we can't force it to come.
All the scientific research can't explain the mysteries of childbirth. And all the medical know-how can't bring the dead back to life. And all the brooms in every tree can't stop it raining. We need to humbly look up to the heavens, and acknowledge that those keys are not in our hands.
This acknowledgement is the antidote to what's known in Greek as hubris, or in Latin as chutzpah :)
Humans can be arrogant sometimes, thinking we are in control and have the power to do whatever we want. But we didn't choose when to be born. We can't come back when we die. And we can't do anything if it rains on our party. We need to trust that G-d does His job, and we should get on with ours.
Note: Jewish law encourages seeking fertility treatments under rabbinical guidance
Sources
Taanis 2a, Devarim Rabbah 7:6 and by Rabbi Moss and Rabbi Mendel Bluming.
Mendel Bluming has served the Potomac area community since 2003 through the
Chabad Shul of Potomac