Blessed are you
who blesses us with mitzvot and commands us to wrap ourselves in tzitzit
Most mornings I pray with a virtual minyan. If it isn’t a day I need to commute to the office, then 7:45am finds me on a Zoom call with a loving, supportive, kind community of Jews who are always ready to welcome the stranger and be present especially for those who are grieving.
I’m a very tactile person. I have some auditory processing issues (think dyslexia, but for hearing), and while my visual learning is more effective than aural, I learn best and experience most when I’m touching or doing. So I had been watching those in my minyan family who wear a tallit or prayer shawl during our prayers, especially in the winter months when they looked especially cozy. There are a couple of places in the weekday morning liturgy where you pull your tallit up over your head (if it’s one of your practices), and there’s a lovely prayer just before the Sh’ma where you pull together the fringes (tzitzit - just about my favorite Hebrew word!) from the four corners of the tallit, envisioning everyone being brought together from the four corners of the world to stand in unity at Mount Sinai.
A few weeks ago, I decided to give myself a tallit for my birthday, so I ordered this beautiful one from Israel. It arrived over the weekend, and this morning was the first time I joined the minyan with my pretty new tallit. As we gathered on Zoom, I ostentatiously removed the tallit from its bag and unfolded it, and the others got excited for me. I pulled up the blessing for putting on a tallit and prayed it while I wrapped myself in my beautiful new shawl.
Baruch ata Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha’olam, asher kideshanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu l’hitatef b’tzitzit. Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who blesses us with commandments and commanded us to wrap ourselves in tzitzit. (From MyJewishLearning)
What was amazing to me was the joy that everyone had for me in this moment. I was excited because this was a brand new thing for me. I expected that someone who has been Jewish their whole life would be a bit more blasé. And as I wrapped the tallit around me, I could feel this community holding me in its arms. I felt enfolded in love and kindness and support and joy.
Happy birthday, Heather 🙂