Black-billed Magpie : The Season of Consolation

This is a Black-billed Magpie. I watched him and his flock for quite some time on a recent trip. He and his flock were feeding, jumping about, and squawking. Wow, what squawking! They were immediately adjacent to a busy part of the trail. And unlike some skittish birds that immediately flee, these magpies seemed utterly unconcerned by the people trooping past them. Our trail is a recent addition to this area, where presumably the magpies have been living for countless generations. Trails come; trails go. The uncaring magpies keep squawking.

Now is the season of the Haftarot of Consolation. These Shabbatot, perhaps more than any others, compel us to step out of time, to ignore today’s maelstrom and to focus on eternal truths. These seven weeks, each Shabbat, the Prophet Isaiah reminds us of HaShem’s promise that exile will be followed by restoration. As we prepare ourselves for the Days of Awe, we marvel at the wholeness of time, we gawk at the span from Creation to the future, and we realize the “blip-ness” of our present. The underlying order of the universe has a tree-like constancy, against which today’s troubles break like the breeze. That is Isaiah’s reassurance.

Creatures are born; creatures die. Species evolve; species go extinct. Even the stars have lifespans. We have been living in an exile - from work and school, friends and family, and from holy communities. These seven weeks remind us that exiles inevitably end, restoration inexorably arrives. We are both the protagonists and the beneficiaries of this march through time, an indelible piece of the story. The Magpies are a fixture of their environment, come what may. The Season of Consolation reminds us that Isaiah’s message, then and now, is equally true.