Avodat Lev on Beebe Hill

September 29, 2010 at 6:27 am | Posted in avodat lev | Leave a comment

Editor’s note: At ADAMAH, we take an hour each morning for meditation and chanting. The following piece describes a recent Avodat Lev that took place on Beebe Hill, the street which streatches along 15 acres of our farm land.

This morning at 6am, we began our ascent up Beebe Hill. Light was just emerging from the edges of our horizon and the blurriness that accompanies the shapes of things near dawn was dissolving into clear, distinctive imagery. Ten feet apart and silent, we followed one another up the steepening meadows and rocky, rooted woodland. The trees curved towards us like a concave shell, one unified structure, a tunnel, guiding us along the trail. I did not realize that I felt squeezed by the trees until we were popped out of their structural hold and into a vast field of tall grass and wild flowers. As we walked, my bare arms, brushed by the low howl of the wind livened. Had they not been as alive before? The bodies walking in front of me stood silhouetted against the backdrop of the Berkshires, each billion dollared, real estated mountained rolling gracefully. They too were silhouetted against darker, less defined mountains rolling behind them. All parties unaware of their astounding partnership. So small we were. The largest among us were specks on the page, a tiny smudge of pen ink in the great masterpiece of the morning skyline. And so we sat like that. We sang thanks to the return of ourselves this morning (Modeh Ani) and to the oneness that we must remind ourselves of twice daily (The shema), then slowly descended. I cursed that my lungs could not inhale forever.

This post was written by Ariel Kohane, Fall 2010 fellow.

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