Not in the Heavens
by Hamutal Bar-Yosef
Not in the heavens,
Not far away,
Goodness blew like wind.
Is it not very close?
Is it not here?
Is its flame not in your hand,
whispering to perform it
now?
Goodness blows like the wind — not up in the heavens, writes Hamutal Bar-Yosef, playing on the verse, “It is not in the heavens, to say “Who will go up for us to the heavens and take it for us and let us hear it, that we may do it’” (Deut. 30:12).
Sometimes it seems to us that our ability to make any difference is not great. There are so many things to fix in this world, so much evil and pain have been our lot and that of those around us lately; what can we actually do?
The Torah reminds us, though, that there is always something for us to do, that it is our responsibility to act. The ability to believe in the good and to take action to change the present reality — this is the meaning of choosing life. To believe of goodness: “Is it not very close” and dependent on us as well? It demands that we take action, “whispering to perform it.” Now.
