Hineini: Here I Am

Bare trees reach and dance in the winter sky
Birds sing in the early morning
As the rising sun casts rays of pink.

In our book we close the chapter on the beginnings of creation
And turn to the exodus, to the leaving,
And our new becoming.

Here the Divine Mystery reveals itself in a different way.
Out of a burning
It says  “I will be that I will be, this is my name,
            I am everywhere, in all things, and I am calling you.
                        Now take off your shoes,
                                                 The ground you stand upon is holy.

It can be difficult to hear and hard to imagine
Something with us in the pain,
            In the rawness, in the trauma,
Something with us in the brokenness of life.

But the voice is persistent, it whispers, it shouts,
I am that I am. I will be that I will be.
I am the breath of all life, the essence of all being
                                    And I need you.

The very ground we stand upon is holy.
And the Divine Presence is calling,
In need of us.

May we pause and listen.
May we turn and gaze saying, I do not know.
And as we look at the fires that are burning
May we hear our names being called.

And even as the mind might respond,
Who am I that I should go
Who am I, what could I possibility do?
May we reach for hineni
And say, Here I am
Ready and willing to go, to do, to be
For healing, for love.

Rabbi Yael