by Rabbi Ron Stern

God, grant me the ability to be alone;
may it be my custom to go outdoors each day
among the trees and grass
among all growing things
and there may I be alone
and enter into prayer…..

So begins the classic and timeless prayer of Rabbi Nachman of Brazlav.

In our climate controlled lives where we run from one air-conditioned environment to another, where the darkness of night is dispelled by lights that create islands of day against the blackness, we have lost the intimacy that our ancestors had with the natural world. As comfortable as we are in our artificially created abodes, in the span of human existence it is a relatively recent experience. We did not evolve for the world that we currently inhabit.  Perhaps the artificial detachment from the natural world granted by our homes, cars, and electricity takes its toll on our souls. Rabbi Nachman’s words, written just over 100 years ago (before the world was awash in electrons) presciently anticipated our disconnection from nature. He foresaw that it would be necessary to go outdoors, to feel the wind and sun on our face, to hear the birds, sense the animals that surround us, feel the cycles of the seasons, and the transitions from day to night. That intimate contact with nature would restore our souls, refresh our spirits, allow us to contemplate our place in the vastness of our world and the long arc of creation—adding a deeper dimension to our existence. So his suggestion:  touch nature every day. Reconnect with a world that endures without us and beyond us; where we are not at the center but only a fragment.

This Summer, we invite you to “get your inner Reb Nachman on” and join us for two Shabbatot in nature.  Encounter the setting sun with prayer, fill the ocean breezes with song, and smell the flowers in meditation. It will be like no other during the year and will permit you to nourish your soul in ways that transcend time and place and touch eternity.

 

The prayer:
God, grant me the ability to be alone;
may it be my custom to go outdoors each day
among the trees and grass among all growing things
and there may I be alone and enter into prayer
to talk with the One to whom I belong.
May I express there everything in my heart,
and may all the foliage in the field
(all grasses, trees and plants)
may they all awake at my coming,
to send the powers of their life
into the words of my prayer
so that my prayer and speech
are made whole
through the life and spirit of all growing things
which are made as one
by their transcendent Source.

— Prayer of Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlav