Musical Plant Medicine to Heal our Pains

The willows are the focus of this Friday - a plant that has no particular fragrance or flower yet is one of the stars of the Sukkot holiday - one of four plants that together offer us the medicine of the directions and the ancient wisdom of consolation when we need it, comfort and hope. 

The Judean exiles describe their first days in the diaspora, refugees,  displaced, with their musical instruments in hand but not the ability to sing the songs that once accompanied them in worship on the mountain, in the temple that they watched burn. In the problematic Psalm 137 that we just read they describe this graphic image of despair, right by the rivers of Babylon:

עַֽל־עֲרָבִ֥ים בְּתוֹכָ֑הּ תָּ֝לִ֗ינוּ כִּנֹּרוֹתֵֽינוּ׃

We hung our lyres upon the willows in its midst.

Ps. 137:2

The willow trees are strong enough to hold the silent instruments. The weeping willows joins the sobs of the exiles into the rivers. 

But the willow had a history of its own and continues to be held today as witnesses to our history and mythic journeys. 

In the ancient temple in Jerusalem the willow was used as a ritual prop during the rain prayers, as people shook and danced with bunches of willows that are considered sacred and auspicious for rain-making as they always grow by sources of water. 

So when the exiles sing of willows helping to hold onto memories of music and better days - the plant itself becomes again the medicine, the natural way to cope and hope. 

It’s the same plant this part of the four species that Jews use during these days of Sukkot to shake and swing and pray with, to all directions, with all and every hope for rain, life, love, peace, and all things better. 

So what’s the secret of the Arava? This willow that continues to supply us with embodied hope? 

Maybe it’s because the willow is also known to be a plant that is about humility, content to be one among many, each with our own role in the ecosystem. 

I hope we get to sing the songs that help our souls find consolation, and that we enter this Shabbat with intentions and dedication to make life easier for all and everybody on the planet --plants and people, every creature, every memory and song. 

Shabbat Shalom. Sukkot of safety and song. 

May Sukkot offer us safe shelter, and the will and ability to be there for each other in all the ways we can.