Northern Cardinal : Singing to the East

This is a Northern Cardinal. We spend many of our mornings together, singing to greet the daylight. This is the time when birds are most active. They sing, and they hunt. Their daily cycle of life is renewing. The import of the breakfast hunt is obvious, but their song’s meaning is less clear. The Cardinal has several songs and calls, and one of them, with my ear tuned just so, sounds exactly like B’rich Hu, B’rich Hu. I don’t anthropomorphize, but I will confess that his song greeting the day brings a smile to my face. And he faces East.

Talmud teaches a comprehensive guide for offering the Morning Shema. There’s even discussion of the need to pray in a house with windows or outside. And as we sing Shema, we are guided to expand our consciousness in the cardinal directions, up, and down. As we conclude “The Lord is One,” we can interpret that to mean that HaShem compasses all of creation, and so our focus should widen to appreciate all the wonders we see. And hear. By custom of course, we obscure our eyes, attenuating our hearing. And we face East.

There is something deeply, viscerally, fitting about joining in morning song. For thousands of years, every Jew beginning the day this way has been a contributing voice in a world-spanning chorus. For just this brief moment, we close our eyes - whether in our homes or the forest - and let the song suffuse us. Restricting our sight allows for a deeper, more intuitive sense of comprehension which travels along with the sound. Individuals’ parts blend into a transcendent music. And listening just so, we understand the Cardinal’s reminder that He who is blessed, is One.