Mayim Hayim, מים חיים, the waters that stopped this weekend in Parshat Hukkat, but never seemed to cease in the Hill Country of Texas.
Mayim Hayim, מים חיים, what an odd thing to think about this week in the midst of deaths of over 100 people in a county just up the road.
Mayim Hayim, מים חיים, the tears of countless family members missing their loved ones.
Mayim Hayim, מים חיים, the waters that give life and sustain life and now will be thought of as the waters that end life, that silence the giggles and squeals of 4th of July celebration for campers and families.
Mayim Hayim, מים חיים, the water that reminds me of the meaning of yira, ירא, the awe and the fear. The intertwined relationship of water seeming majestic, grand, powerful, life-giving, and life-depleting.
Mayim Hayim, מים חיים, the waters of purification and clarity changed in my mind to the images of muddy, contaminated, debris-filled water rising at unprecedented levels ripping away camper cabins, RVs, cars, trees, and anything else in its path.
While the water of the Guadalupe River in the Texas Hill Country turned from an idyllic, peaceful river to deathly flood waters taking away the lives of over 100 people of all backgrounds and ages without any kind of discrimination, I can’t help but think of the Mayim Hayim, מים חיים. How do we now think of the waters as life-giving?
The same way we engage with all events of nature. The ways people have coped with disasters for generations. Hope.
Mayim Hayim, מים חיים, the waters that while destroyed anything in its path, brought a community close together.
Mayim Hayim, מים חיים, the waters of life which almost a thousand rescues.
Mayim Hayim, מים חיים, the waters of the Guadalupe River mixed with our tears and our sweat. The sweat of the first responders who spent and continue to spend days looking for victims. The tears that can’t stop flowing from people all over the world.
Mayim Hayim, מים חיים, the far-reaching connections that people were able to make with one another because of their time off of the Guadalupe River at a summer camp, at a campground, tubing, or enjoying the Texas Hill Country.
Mayim Hayim, מים חיים, the outpouring of help from volunteers to hold one another up and help in whatever way possible. So much so, that volunteers were asked to stop donating and stop coming.
Mayim Hayim, מים חיים, the living waters that will remind us of the beauty of water, the Majesty of water, and the fear of water.
Mayim Hayim, מים חיים, the living waters that will encourage new life-saving technology to warn people of impending floods to the best of their ability.
Mayim Hayim, מים חיים, May we balance the noise of crashing waves between fear and peace. May we balance the noise of a rainstorm with drops pelting buildings with a calming sounds of a rainstorm. May we balance our grief, our dread, our fears with our hopes, our dreams, and the memories of all those who died.
May we be reminded of the songs of Miriam, the keeper of the Mayim Hayim, מים חיים, just as we hear the songs of comfort from the buses of the evacuated Camp Mystic girls.
