God of time and space, teach me the patience of a planet steady in orbit the silent wisdom of stone the resilience of mountains eroding back into the earth the persistence of glacial growth like a slumbering bear in hibernation a cocooned caterpillar in chrysalis teach me the transforming power of stillness.

השקדיות העייפות פותחות פריחותן באי רצון האביב מעיר אותן עם רעד נראה לי כמו הארץ אבל איזה ארץ היא הארץ שלי? אין לי כלום, שככתוב: לה׳ הארץ הכל יש לה׳ אין לנו כלום English with footnotes: The tired almond trees open their blossoms reluctantly Spring wakes them with a shake It looks like the land (1) But which land is my land? I have nothing, as it is written: the land is God’s (2) Everything is God’s We have nothing (1) Ha-aretz, lit. meaning “the land,” is another name for the land of Israel (2) Psalm 24:1 (Image description: an almond tree in bloom in Jerusalem)