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Mitzvah Butterflies
And Life's Beauty
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5/22
1998
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the folder where all my references lie,
f I were to pick things in this
waiting to be re-arranged.
world that are pure beauty, I
The Awesome Torah was this. The
would pick flowers like irises and
rabbi and his wife have a lovely custom:
anthuriurns. Or the eagle in high
When they bless their children, they ask
flight riding the breeze or the lines of a
them to say what was the favorite thing
horse waiting to accept a rider, who was
that happened to them during the past
born a year before the polio vaccine
week.
The one child, due to achieve
became as common as milk and who
the
ripe
old age of six the next day, said
walks with a lame walk, but ever so
(in childhood innocence, with all the
much better now because of the horse,
spontaneity of a child about to be six),
the patient and special horse she rides,
"I got to bring the butterfly home."
which invigorates her legs,
From that moment on,
everything she has that works.
nothing
else mattered. He
And only after that, and only
had
said
it: The butterfly, the
maybe, then my favorite Van
one
they
have in class that
Gogh or Matisse.
changes
its
form from ugly to
In the human realm: I
gorgeous before their very
remember observing a doctor
eyes, had to be taken home
once; the patient unresponsive,
for the weekend. Someone
who had to pry open — ever
had to take care of it until
so gently — an eyelid to check
Monday, and he was chosen.
for responses from the brain.
I asked him, "What color
It was grace, pure grace, as fine DANNY SIEGEL
is
it?"
as a Balinese dancer's hands
Spe cial to
He said, "Monarch." I
telling the story of life and the
The Jew ish News
thought,
"Of course, the
divine as they know the divine
color is Monarch, beyond an
in life. Or the look in the eyes of chil-
individual color, all interplay of color
dren sorting shoes for homeless people,
on its wings in a category of itself, deli-
as the chill of a Denver winter sets in,
cate color few artists could paint on
rain, snow, and sleet on the horizon, if
substance
so thin a few specks of dust, a
not today, then tomorrow or the day
slight
imbalance
would keep it ground-
after. Pure beauty it was, a reflection of
ed
for
as
long
as
a
butterfly's forever is.
the radiance of the mitzvah itself.
After
that,
there
were only details:
So much beauty in this world! So
How long have you had the butterfly in
much to hear, to see, to touch.
class? Who takes care of it? What do
And butterflies.
you feed it? -Is it a reward for being
I recall a Friday night; there were
good that lets the teacher give you the
only about a dozen of us, maybe 15 at
honor
of feeding it or take it home for
Shabbat dinner. I was the speaker and
the
weekend
until it is time to release it
my custom is to be shy and not yet
back
into
nature?
engaged until my first talk is over.
Whatever the answers, it was the
Besides the rabbi, his wife was by his
most
natural thing in the world for him
side at the table with their two children.
to have a butterfly in class. How else
I am not much for small talk — at
would children at that age, taking in
least with strangers on a Friday night. I
every imaginable life experience, every
sit quietly or ask the others questions
image
and sound, prepare themselves for
about themselves, their work, who the
beauty,
beauty from the most unlikely
fine people of the congregation are ...
origins
(they
could ask later why God
anything to deflect attention away from
wants
some
beauty
to come from mod-
me. At least the familiar singing of
est
or
unlikely
or
even
ugly places and
"Shalom Aleichem," blessing the chil-
how
genetics
works
and
why genetics
dren, kiddush and motzi keep me on
works that way), longevity, engagement,
solid ground. They buy me time. It was
endangerment and extinction?
also pleasant, cordial, and warm, pro-
Of course they had a butterfly, and,
ceeding relatively smoothly, despite my
of
course,
it was his favorite thing of the
nervousness.
week.
It
would
have been mine, might
I certainly did not expect Awesome
have
been
mine,
too.
Torah. Not because they weren't capable
The
point
is:
Whatever
time we
of it, but because I cannot afford to lis-
have,
we
rise
from
the
common
stage of
ten too carefully. I am too busy prepar-
the
nondescript
egg,
pupa,
and
caterpil-
ing my thoughts and shuffling my notes
lar, to the spectacular beauty of the but-
in my head, running back and forth to
terfly. All who see us will stand in awe,
Danny Siegel is a Rockville, Maryland-
at a loss for words to describe our beau-
based poet, author and lecturer. He's
ty, be it a few weeks of life, a few years
founder of the Ziv Tzedakah Fund.
or a hundred. ❑