Into the Woods Rabbi Owen Gottleib and Rabbi Mike Comins

Rabbis Owen Gottlieb and Mike Comins reflect on awe and nature in this extract from a much longer conversation about Judaism and wilderness. Read the full conversation here: Wilderness Awakening

“Years ago, I attended my first Shabbat on the Beach service with the Malibu Jewish Center and Synagogue. As the sun set, we lit candles and began to sing the bracha (blessing). Just moments into our singing, dolphins broke water offshore. I was in awe. I learned that the dolphins had become part of the Shabbat on the Beach ritual; whenever the singing started, the dolphins greeted the worshipers.

That night, praying Maariv Aravim, the prayer for the God who brings on evenings, gave new meaning to my contemplations of God, who sets the constellations in the heavens, rolls light from darkness at dusk-and sets the dolphins in the ocean amid the waves.

Whenever we're awed by beauty, we can raise our thoughts to contemplate the Divine Source of awe” (Rabbi Owen Gottlieb).
Abraham Joshua Heschel writes, "Awe precedes faith; it is at the root of faith.We must grow in awe in order to reach faith. Awe rather than faith is the cardinal attitude of the religious Jew."

Wilderness is the everyday gateway to awe. Heschel was famous for beginning a lecture: "I've just seen a miracle, I've just seen a miracle! I saw the sunset." (Rabbi Mike Comins)

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At the beginning and end of the Chavurah’s b'nei mitzvah programme we ask the students the same set of questions about their sense of belonging, Jewish identity, and what matters to them Jewishly. To the question of ‘in what places do you feel Jewish’ they inevitably answer - services, shabbat dinners, community events and with family. When we ask them about feeling awe and a sense of the Divine they usually talk about nature, trees, woods, mountains, and oceans. Rarely, if ever, do they combine the two answers - feeling a sense of Judaism while in nature. It’s a question for all of us, how to remember that Judaism is not just for indoor use only.  Judaism as a tradition was born in the dry plains of Southern Mesopotamia, traveling all the way to the Judean hills, via Egypt with Abraham and Sarah. Though the flora and fauna of the Torah is very different from the lush hills of Hampstead Heath, being outside, together, walking, talking and praying is a beautiful way to celebrate Shabbat. We might not see dolphins or sunsets, but we can still find awe in the green giants of the woods.