BRINGING THE DEAD SEA BACK TO LIFE AGAIN

Traveling to a place where we can rejoice in the Independence Day of Israel, the creation of a country that is The Promised Land, a country we can call our own, a country with a strong army: The IDF. To celebrate after we had the mournfulness of Holocaust Memorial Day, as we count the Omer during a time of year when we mourn the deaths of the 6 million, our grandparents and cousins, all senselessly destroyed by ignorance and hatred.

To feel the loss, to feel the destruction of all our society with the loss of our people, our families. To mourn without the same feeling of hatred that the Nazis tried to permeate, to put an end to this hatred, to wash it away in water, to bond all people together in peace and love for one's neighbor and in this way to put an end to Hitler's hatred forever, so it never can resurface, to drown this hatred in a sea of tears, and to then use the water to joyously water our flower gardens.

To celebrate with happiness the Israel Independence Day when rockets shoot into the sky to cause beauty instead of destruction.

Finding a green sea or a blue ocean where there are billions of tears that created the waters and to turn these seas into the comforts of a bubble bath, to feel each drop of sea water as another tear that G-d has shed for the 6 million innocent victims of the mass hatred of the Holocaust, and then to splash in these waters with the joyousness of the Independence Day of Israel that now defends us.

To feel the power in the sea as each wave hits the shore with a force, a force like as the power in Einstein's theory that could become the force of an atom bomb, used for or against us, depending on whose hands in which it befalls, and not to leave this to chance.

Singing for the sea waters to use the tearful mournfulness to bring a closure to hatred, to create a state of peace, to have seriousness in our moods as we Count the Omer, to vow to never allow destruction like that of the Holocaust to be a repeat.

To use the holy song of the Cantor loudly to call upon G-d to bring us peace, and quietly as the whispering sound in the brushing of each sea wave upon the shore, that binds our wounds and heals them, to clean ourselves and achieve a state of righteousness and happiness for the creation of The State of Israel, The Promised Land.

LIVING IN A SANDCASTLE AS HOME

Sitting on a sandy seashore, watching each wave roll in one by one at your feet, each wave being like the mighty arm and hand of G-d stretching out of His body that is the sea and reaching out to you, to touch you, to heal you, to caress you with 100% natural mikvah waters, the waters of the Split Red Sea, wanting you to recognize these waves as G-d's nurturing hands that come one by one eternally, again and again, to use them as the evidence you need to feel the love of G-d, the existence of G-d, in a large body of sea water, not to ever forget the Ten Plagues or the staff of Moses that G-d turned into a snake, to feel in these water waves the incredible power, a healing power of the Almighty G-d Himself, as the purity of the waters to wash away all your transgressions, soak you in a sea of forgiveness and renew you, give you a rebirth like that of a newborn babe, to jump and play in the sand like a toddler, to build sandcastles and to call them your home.

To be at the sea everyday, to walk in and out of your sandcastle, dipping your feet in fresh waters, new waters everyday, not one day the same as the last, always something new to see, new to smell, new to feel, to feel the graininess of each molecule of sand as it scratches away the calluses on your feet, smoothing the soles of your feet and toes, tickling your feet with the love of G-d, to not need shoes, to be barefoot and naked, to be seen only by the fish.

Traveling up and down the steps of your sandcastle, leaping from tower to tower, being like Rapunzel and letting down your locks of hair from the windows, locks of hair blowing in a sea breeze.

Kicking the sandcastle sand and like a House of Cards watching it all fall down to be built up again in a different architectural design, another castle to call your home.

Washing your hands clean of all gritty sand, and splashing mikvah waters on every part of your skin, to not have a sandcastle to call home, instead like as a fish, diving into the large body of water and as a diver calling the water, the deep sea, your one and only home.

To go home again and again, everyday, each day as you go to the sandy seashore, to go there to a home with the fish, a home that is all yours, a step out of doors, to splash and to swim, to soak up sun, as your out of doors becomes your indoors.

The put an end to homelessness, as the sacred sea becomes a place for you to call your very own home, as like Jonah you rock about and then are thrown out of the body of a fish, to land atop an island that becomes yours, an island surrounded by the seas and fed by the fish.

Turning nothing into something, and something into everything.

Having it all!

AS FREE AS THE BIRDS!

Sitting on  the dock of the bay, letting the waves roll away, seashells floating on the water and crunching under your tongs, polished stones of billions of years in age, stones everywhere with smoothed edges.

Seagulls flying in flocks and singularly, with and without their mates, white fuzz on their skin, small feathers, with a band of silver around their necks, cawing and screeching, they are reincarnated Levites, diving with gracefulness and forcefulness into the water to pick out a fish for their breakfast, blocking the sunlight from your eyes with their large wingspan as they fly over your head.

Robins with red breasts picking out worms from the soil, seeing a Robin is a first sign of Spring, watching them bounce around the ground as they do an Irish gig, flying then to their nests where their babies await them to be fed.

Red Cardinals taking the cake as the birds with the most color, red brilliance in the males flying with their more humble females with the color of their red feathers being of a lesser potency. Cardinals with crowns atop their heads, royal birds, birds wearing feathers like red Indians in hats that increase their height. Cardinals who enjoy sunflower seeds as their snacks, breaking the hard outer shell with their strong beaks, tossing out the chaff, stomping around and eating more.

A day at the beach with the birds, having flocks of birds all around you, flying in your thoughts as the birds physically fly around you, sweeping you up in their pursuit of freedom, as free as the birds!

The great sage Hillel directs, ``Love the creatures and draw them close to Torah.''