“He Sends Down Snow as White as Wool”

I’ve been called upon to deliver many invocations and benedictions over the years for a wide range of events and activities.  One of the most unusual occasions was the request some years back from the President of the synagogue I was then serving in Charleston, SC, to invoke Divine favor at the dedication of an ice skating rink he was opening.  I generally try to avoid what I call “the we’re here because we’re here” type of invocation that many clergy use in favor of sharing words of Torah relating to whatever occasion for which we have gathered.  So I sought out appropriate texts within the Jewish tradition to mark this auspicious occasion.

            Fortunately the center was to be called the “Carolina Ice Palace” which allowed me to quote the Psalmist in my opening: “Peace be within your walls and prosperity within your palaces.”  I went on to quote the Book of Job where we are told, “By the breath of God, ice is formed and the expanse of water becomes solid” and I moved from there to gratitude for the other things that the “breath of God” has done for us all, like inspiring creativity in the minds of humankind so they could devise the equipment necessary to open an ice arena for kids and hockey players to skate on a frozen surface even in the Southern heat.

            In recent weeks, the breath of God has been very busy here in New England and throughout much of the country forming ice and snow and dumping it in prodigious quantities on the inhabitants of these northern climes.  The Psalmist, who probably didn’t get to see a lot of snow over his lifetime, writes rapturously about this natural phenomenon, “God gives His command to the earth; swiftly God’s word issues forth.  God sends down snow as white as wool and scatters frost as thick as ashes.  God pelts the earth with a storm of ice.  Who can withstand God’s wintry blasts?  At God’s command the ice melts; the wind is stirred and the waters flow.”

            Personally, though I can appreciate the beauty of new fallen snow, enough is enough already!  I’m anxiously awaiting the arrival of Spring.

            Meantime, I came across a book on my shelves by an Israeli rabbi, Yishai Mazlomian, entitled Sefer HaNotein Sheleg: B’inyanei HaSheleg, HaBarad v’HaKerach b’Halacha, (The Book of ‘He Sends Down Snow’:  On matters of snow, hail, and ice in Jewish Law.)  In his introduction, the author says he was inspired by the heavy snows in Israel in the winter of 2000, to gather together the laws relating to snow in Jewish tradition.  The situation that year led him to seek out answers to various questions relating to snow particularly in regard to Sabbath observance.  He also decided, in order to make the book of interest even to those who might rarely get to see any snow on the ground, to add in related laws about hail and ice in general.

            Among the areas he considers are questions about fulfilling the requirement of ritual handwashing by sticking one’s hands into snow three times in succession. What blessing should one say if one eats snow and does it require an after-blessing?  He asks whether one may handle snow on Shabbat and whether snow falling on one’s clothing is considered a burden which one should not carry on Shabbat.  Is snowball making prohibited or permitted on the Sabbath?  Can one use snow or ice to surround a bottle to cool it off on Shabbat?  Is it permitted to arrange for snow removal on Shabbat by non-Jews and if so may they use machinery to do so or only snow shovels?  How should one remove ice from an icetray on the Sabbath,?  Is it okay to urinate in the snow on Shabbat even though it changes the color of the snow? Inquiring minds want to know these things and many more.

            The point Mazlomian makes in his introduction and through the book and the point I’m making as well is that whatever one finds in this world, even snow and ice, provides us with opportunities to engage with the Almighty and to fulfill God’s will in some way.

            My colleague and educational director, Rabbi Margaret Frisch Klein, in a recent snow cancellation notice sent out by email to our religious school parents, suggested that the children spend a few moments of their free time to reflect on the new fallen snow and perhaps come up with an appropriate blessing to respond to this phenomenon.  Of course, after I saw this email, I pointed out to Margaret that I have a book on snow and Jewish law. (She was not surprised.) I told her that, no doubt, Rabbi Mazlomian has dealt with the question of a blessing for snow.

Sure enough, on page 194, he addresses a question to his rebbe, Rabbi Chayim Kanievski:  Why did they (the Sages) not establish a blessing for seeing snow or a blessing of praise for snow, just as they established  blessings for lightning and thunder, rainbows, and others such events?  Rabbi Kanievski apparently has no poetry in his soul, for he answers tersely:  “Because it is nothing but frozen water.”  Of course, earlier in the book, Rabbi Mazlomian notes that if one eats snow, there is a required blessing beforehand, the same as for water, “shehakol nihyeh bidvaro” “who created everything by His word.”  But the appearance of snow on the ground is apparently not sufficiently exciting to call forth a blessing in itself.  I still would encourage our children to try to come up with religious expressions regarding this natural phenomenon even if it does not call for a formal bracha (blessing).

            For most of us here in New England, particularly for those who are not into winter sports, the record-breaking snow this winter is more than overkill at this point and brings forth more cursing than blessing from many folks.  It has become a nuisance which interrupts our schedules and ruins our plans and forces us to re-schedule and rework our lives around it.  We need to remove it from our driveways and sidewalks to be able to get out of our homes and on with our business.  It is an annoyance for many and its beauty has faded in our opinion as it now towers over our homes and places of business and we search for more room to pile it up off the pavement.

            Perhaps, in spite of our annoyance though, it may be good for us to stop and take a good look at the beauty of the snow and to recognize this gift from God that has come not merely as frozen water for the soil, but as a reminder from on high, forcing us to take time off from our too busy lives and to realize that our plans are truly secondary to those of a Higher Power.  No matter what we have planned here on earth, we must acknowledge that it can wait while we take a snowday.  Like other meteorological phenomena there is little we can do about the snow but receive it with good grace and perhaps offer this prayer:

            May it be Your will O Lord to transform your gift of snow in our minds from burden to blessing.  As it brings moisture to the winter soil, so may it refresh our lives with unexpected opportunities to read and to study, to play and to exercise, to relax with our families, and to acknowledge Your sovereignty over the world that You have created. Amen.