Townsend’s Solitaire : Journey to Shehecheyanu

This is a Townsend’s Solitaire. Aptly, I saw it at a park where to my knowledge it’s the only one ever reported. In fact, I saw it hundreds of miles outside of its expected range. In the birding world, this is something of a special “lifer.” Documenting its presence far beyond expectations essentially establishes an endpoint to what must have been a fascinating journey. Certainly something new and noteworthy has taken place.

Our tradition is keenly attuned to the precious new. We acknowledge our “lifer” experiences with a prayer to the One who has “granted us life, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this occasion.” But read carefully. The focus of this prayer, recited to celebrate the occasion of a new experience, is not the new experience itself, but rather the journey that brought us to the present moment. We are eminently grateful for the steps along the way, not merely the arrival.

Six days of creation preceded Shabbat. Moses wasn’t given the Tabernacle but rather the plans for its construction. And nearly two millennia passed before the restoration of a Jewish sovereign state. Time must be taken. Process matters. The sparkle and brilliance of the new instant are magnified when they reflect off the river of history. Our arrival at a point in our journey, no less than the Townsend’s Solitaire’s, reminds us of the guidance we receive along the way.