Broad-tailed Hummingbird : The Challenge of One

This is a Broad-tailed Hummingbird. Like his cousins, this beautiful male has a scintillating gorget, his “neckpiece” of scaly-looking feathers. The gorget doesn’t have an inherent color; it can appear either dull black or brilliant coral depending on how the light strikes it. If Schrodinger had written about a bird instead of a cat, this would be the one! The subtlest shift in the bird’s posture leads to a vastly disproportionate change in color. And there are times, like this fortunate photograph, that pose the conundrum of both black and coral simultaneously.

Tradition expectedly teaches that we bless HaShem for the good that enhances our lives. We are also taught, though, to bless HaShem for the bad, for the painful losses. The Sages extensively debated how to make these latter blessings. Should we use the same words as for joyous occasions? Should we employ different formulations, implicitly acknowledging human feelings of loss? How do we express blessing in the presence of those despairing without compounding their pain? Can blessings - formulaic, prescribed, expected - be a gracious way to resolve the otherwise awkward wondering of, “What do I… should I… can I… say?”

The Lord is One. One (of many) interpretations holds that all of creation, good and bad, derives from the Lord. This is a tremendously demanding perspective. It forces us to accept a unitary source for both good and bad, to acknowledge the seeming paradox of blessing a God who equally gives and takes. A fortiori, we must reconcile these perforce when we are in the depths of our vulnerability. There is no easy intellectual resolution. We have only faith and lived experience. The Hummingbird’s twinned colors remind us of the inherent beauty that persists, even when we ourselves are in darkness.