Blue Grosbeak : A Season of Downtime

This is a Blue Grosbeak. I didn’t see many birds this morning, and this youngster certainly highlighted the day. We are deep into summer now, and this is a quiet time for seeing birds. It’s hot. Often prohibitively hot. Even early in the day, birds take shelter against the heat, finding a shady spot for protection - and privacy against prying photographers. At some level it’s disappointing, in that one sees fewer numbers and a smaller variety, but at the same time it’s a genuine reminder of the natural cyclicality of the year. Like winter in northern climes, our summer is simply a fallow time.

Much of Jewish law was established contemplating an era when we were an overwhelmingly agricultural people. Torah includes express regulations of Shmita, for resting the land on a periodic basis, and Orlah, for abstaining from enjoying any benefit from newly-planted trees. We are commanded simply to let them be, to remain in their natural states. In all of these regulations, Divine in origin, there is a deeply practical impetus intended to guide and to enhance the daily life of people living their earthly lives. Laws of Shmita and Orlah acknowledge the needs of the land and maybe too the needs of the people who work it.

Today Jewish communities are overwhelmingly urban, and the laws of Shmita and Orlah perhaps seem anachronistic and unworthy of close study. In a practical sense, I suppose there’s something to that. But considering more deeply, there is something inherently valuable about recognizing the need for time to be fallow and for time to become established. In fact, perhaps these laws remain equally worthy of study today - arguably more so today - as we live in a world constantly clamoring for our attention and seemingly imposing unceasing tasks. The farmer no less than the farm needs downtime. So I’ll cherish this morning’s Grosbeak and the quiet, fallow time of the year when we recharge.