Asher Yatzar and Glen Canyon Dam

 

There is a prayer that is said every morning thanking Hashem for the wondrous workings of our bodies.We give thanks that the many vessels and organs of our body are appropriately opened or closed, for if they were not we could not stand. The exact prayer is:

"Blessed are You, Hashem our God, King of the universe, Who formed man with wisdom and created within him many openings and many hollows. It is obvious and known before Your Throne of Glory that if even one of them ruptures, or if even one of them becomes blocked, it would be impossible to survive and to stand before You (even for a short period). Blessed are You, Hashem, Who heals all flesh and acts wondrously."

Some of us have  almost died when the valves and vessels in our bodies have been blocked or ruptured, and we know the truth of this prayer. But I was reminded of this in a very poignant way  a few weeks ago from several thousand feet flying to San Diego. 

The plane took a route I did not recognize over canyon lands, and I noticed a lake in the distance...what looked like a canyon that was glistening blue. Lake Powell...of course. There is was...the flooded canyon that had once been a place full or wildlife. But what I thought was the lake was merely a canyon full of water beyond the lake...a flooded river. I kept looking at the water, expecting to see the lake any minute, but the plane flew on for miles and miles....and more miles. At last...the lake. And then miles later...at last Glen Canyon Dam. One dam backing up hundreds of miles of water and flooding canyons...changing eco-systems that had been built over thousands of years. 

One dam...one blockage...and the world was changed. And if that blockage were to be opened, the dam to burst, no life could stand below it in the flood of water becoming wild and free.  

 And maybe this relates in some way to the wild ride we have had moving my mom. The doors of the moving van were opened when they should have been closed and her life history flowed out across the desert. Yet, even with this, there was a way to live on....to move passed what was lost and to create new boundaries and openings and closings. In fact, perhaps this was a gift from Hashem too, a door that should have been opened had been closed, and so Hashem opened it. The door to new beginnings, to opportunities, to new lessons and possiblities needs to be open. 

When we close it with our fears and opinions and outdated behaviors, we cannot move forward in this world. And so...if we are lucky...a door that has been closed is open for us. All that has blocked us flows down river clearing the way for a new perspective and experience, perhaps with wild abandon, perhaps with earth shaking changes. Either way, we learn that we cannot create the illusion of safety by blocking what should flow free, or releasing what should be closed.