Kestrel & Mockingbird : Erev Shabbat Double Portion

This Erev Shabbat’s double portion is an American Kestrel, perched on the snag, and a Northern Mockingbird, clearly wanting that perch. What makes this picture compelling is that it captured only 1/1,000th of a second of time. Yep. Our normal perception of time and movement would completely miss the tremendous beauty literally right in front of us. Only by taking this one slice out of time, elevating it above the other photos in the camera’s burst, can we experience the clarity we need to appreciate the scene.

Shabbat is our opportunity to step out of time, to freeze it, focusing exclusively on the joy and beauty and gratitude that otherwise get mixed up in the dross of our daily lives. Abraham Joshua Heschel writes so beautifully of Shabbat as being our Cathedrals in Time. Our holiness isn’t restricted to a place or a thing but rather is built into the world itself, tracing back in an unbroken string of weeks to creation. Shabbat is no less a part of the fabric of the universe than gravity, guiding and directing our movements if we simply stop struggling against it.

My eye, live, wasn’t nearly able to see the details and dramatic instants the camera records. Human visual systems simply aren’t designed that way, and we need an external technology to discover other aspects of seeing. Shabbat, though, is an integral part of our lives, a spiritual DNA we need simply observe and remember. To sanctify Shabbat we need only a moment, an intention, and HaShem. I frequently wonder if what is a day to us is to HaShem just 1/1,000th of a second. What beauty might we ourselves portray in that frozen glimpse?