Rav Yitzchak Hutner told: I once took a walk with Rav Kook and another man amidst the mountains of the land of Israel. Rav Kook told how impressed he was by the landscape. The other man asked him, “But you were in the Alps. What is so special about these mountains?”
Rav Kook replied, “The Alps did not speak to me.” (Shivchei Harayah, p. 195)
This story speaks to me the way that the red rocks of the American southwest speak to me. I have been in many places that are geologically amazing, layer upon layer of rock leading back into the past, that are similar to canyonlands, but were silent.
I remember walking through Mesa Verde and hearing people wonder why the Anasazi moved into the rock ledges. I was so surprised to hear the question. Of course that they moved into the rocks...the rocks sang to them. The DNA of the rocks vibrated with the DAN of the old ones...and I can feel and hear this.
The same is probably true of Petra and the people who originally lived there. I was so excited to go deep into those canyons and feel and hear the rocks...but they were silent. Not for others, but for me.
However the rocks in Safed called and chanted and reached for me. The houses built out of stones like a gathering of caves around the central high point, for a moment, transformed into Mesa Verde before my eyes. The rooms I walked into embraced me with prayer and chant and song. The same thing happened in the tunnels of Jerusalem. I am linked to the rocks in Israel through my DNA.
However the rocks in Safed called and chanted and reached for me. The houses built out of stones like a gathering of caves around the central high point, for a moment, transformed into Mesa Verde before my eyes. The rooms I walked into embraced me with prayer and chant and song. The same thing happened in the tunnels of Jerusalem. I am linked to the rocks in Israel through my DNA.
This explains perhaps why certain oceans reach out to me with song, welcoming me as a secret mermaid, and others seem to simply tickle my toes without any special connection. The Pacific calls me to me, while the Atlantic is merely a friend. The Mediterranean sea at Caesarea and Tel Aviv laughed aloud when we met, inviting me to stay and stay and stay.
My husband says that his Pacific kisses the Hawaiian Islands. I love the ocean there too, but also feel at home along the Monterey coast.
I have learned to accept this sense of resonance with gratitude and without question. How wonderful that some people are called to the plains and some to the mountains and some to the sea. Perhaps this is why humans spread out across the planet, walking and sailing from one continent to another...looking for resonance. Searching for the place that sings them home.
I love the Colorado mountains and hiking, buy my soul is filled with the sea. Someday I need to follow that call back to the shore, with or without a wedding dress, with good friends, new friends, old friends, and people I love. Someday I need to follow the song of the sea the holds the essence of my DNA.
My husband says that his Pacific kisses the Hawaiian Islands. I love the ocean there too, but also feel at home along the Monterey coast.
I have learned to accept this sense of resonance with gratitude and without question. How wonderful that some people are called to the plains and some to the mountains and some to the sea. Perhaps this is why humans spread out across the planet, walking and sailing from one continent to another...looking for resonance. Searching for the place that sings them home.
I love the Colorado mountains and hiking, buy my soul is filled with the sea. Someday I need to follow that call back to the shore, with or without a wedding dress, with good friends, new friends, old friends, and people I love. Someday I need to follow the song of the sea the holds the essence of my DNA.
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