Vermilion Flycatcher : Anew and Anew

This is a Vermilion Flycatcher. He is a stunning little hunter that I watched for quite a while. And as I studied him, I realized that he had a pattern: he would perch on this log, swoop down on his prey, and then fly back up to precisely the same place. Each individual foray was lightning-quick, but his pattern enabled me to keep my camera focused on where he was going to be and catch this beautiful instant of the bird in flight. His color, his flight, all his beauty that we might miss in his instantaneous or isolated behavior became available once I understood his cycle.

We are now celebrating the holiday of Simchat Torah. This is the day when we finish our year-long cycle of reading Torah. It is also the day when we begin our year-long cycle of reading Torah. And it is precisely that simultaneity, when we end and when we begin, that makes this holiday a time of almost unparalleled joy. We dance; we sing; and most tellingly - we so meaningfully incorporate our children! This is a holiday of cycles. This is a holiday of celebrating our past and expressing confidence in our future. This is a holiday of unshakeable continuity. We celebrate the ending precisely by immediately beginning anew.

I’m sometimes asked, “What happens when you run out of different birds?” I chuckle. There are thousands of species, far more than I will see. Nu? I could do what I do with a minyan of just 10 birds. The insights of these drashot are not limited solely by the bird or the photo. Writing equally reflects growth in the writer, the newness of the readers, and most importantly, deepening understanding of our inheritance from HaShem. Studying only this Flycatcher, anew and anew, contains infinite lessons - as does our study of Torah. I can no more “run out of birds” than Am Yisrael can run out of reasons to celebrate Simchat Torah.