Remember We Are Also Sacred Soil
Ps. 103:13-17
Bless, My Soul! Like the previous psalm, 103 begins with these two words, as a beautiful invitation for the soul to sing praises, along with every sacred section of the human body:
לְדָוִ֨ד ׀ בָּרְכִ֣י נַ֭פְשִׁי אֶת־יְהֹוָ֑ה וְכׇל־קְ֝רָבַ֗י אֶת־שֵׁ֥ם קׇדְשֽׁוֹ׃
“Psalm Of David.
My Soul, Bless GOD,
And all that is within me, name that holy name.”
Ps. 103:1
The Hebrew word for ‘all that is within me” is Keravai - translated is ‘innards’ or sometimes literally as ‘intestines’. The word connotes the intimate sense of being one, body and soul, with the sacred source, an invitation to bellow out right from the belly, the awe at being alive, even with whatever hurts us deep within.
Like other psalms, this one is praise and pain all woven together. We praise and yet we are afraid of our death, alive to our imminent mortality. What is unique in 103 is that some of the metaphors that we find here made their way into one of the most powerful prayers in Jewish liturgy - U’Netane Tokef - a medieval composition that became central in the High Holy Days. In just a week we will begin the month of Elul - the last moon for this year and the start of the new year season, along with the process of reflection and renewal. The words we read today will echo in a few weeks as we are invited to ponder - how are we spending each day? How are we living our lives? The poetry helps us face the facts that our prosaic lives often prefer to pretend will not happen: We are made of soil and ashes, and to both we shall return, and we have no idea when or how that happens. Yes, we are souls with eternal life force, and we are also bodies, messy and magnificent, bound to the ground.
David, this poem’s author, brings this message home as he first imagines God as a father who can be kind and compassionate to his children. He appeals to this father, our creator and progenitor - to have greater mercy for our flaws and fall-outs, as parents do. After all, no matter how divinity sparks within our souls -- we are also made of soil and dirt, we are mere messy mortals:
כְּרַחֵ֣ם אָ֭ב עַל־בָּנִ֑ים רִחַ֥ם יְ֝הֹוָ֗ה עַל־יְרֵאָֽיו׃
כִּי־ה֭וּא יָדַ֣ע יִצְרֵ֑נוּ זָ֝כ֗וּר כִּי־עָפָ֥ר אֲנָֽחְנוּ׃
אֱ֭נוֹשׁ כֶּחָצִ֣יר יָמָ֑יו כְּצִ֥יץ הַ֝שָּׂדֶ֗ה כֵּ֣ן יָצִֽיץ׃
כִּ֤י ר֣וּחַ עָֽבְרָה־בּ֣וֹ וְאֵינֶ֑נּוּ וְלֹֽא־יַכִּירֶ֖נּוּ ע֣וֹד מְקוֹמֽוֹ׃
As a father has compassion for his children,
so YHWH has compassion for those who show reverence.
For God knows how we are formed,
and is mindful that we are soil.
Mortals, their days are like those of grass;
they bloom like a flower of the field;
a wind passes by and it is no more,
its own place no longer knows it.”
Ps. 103:13-17
Sounds familiar? The haunting words of Unetanah Tokef literally quote these words: “The human foundation is soil and dust ...like dry grass, and like a withered bloom ...and like a wafting breeze …”
Psalm 103 didn’t just give the voice to future prayers, it also goes all the way back to the beginning, referencing the creation of the human in Genesis but with a new angle and twist.
In the third chapter of Genesis God punishes Adam for eating from the forbidden fruit, curses the ground from which Adam was formed, informs Adam that he will have to work that soil in order to survive, and “until you return to the ground, for from it, you were taken. For soil you are, and to soil you shall return”.
Psalm 103 echoes this curse and recalls our mortal coil but also brings in song, and celebrates our lives for what they are right now - regardless of what will one day happen. It’s a subtle shift in tone, but it’s quite major.
Ezra Butler picks up on this twist:
“What was originally, in Genesis, a curse and a punishment is now being portrayed as a beautiful understanding of what exactly we are. It’s a blessing to have someone know you and your abilities to the extent that you don’t need to explain to them who you are, because they already know.
Psalm 103:15 continues in the internal allusion. “Man, his days are like those of grass; he blooms like a flower in the field.” Compared with Genesis 3:18, “Thorns and thistles shall sprout for you. But you will eat the grasses of the field.”
So yes, we are innards and inner feelings combined, lofty and low, body and soul, messy and magnificent, all at the same time. Sing, my soul, this poem starts, reminding us that no matter where we come from and to where we shall return, each day on earth is a high holy day, a privilege and a responsibility. Today, one week before we enter the season of repentance and return, as our lives go by, in the middle of sorrows and troubles, violence and dread -- the poet comes back to remind us to make each day into its own soul song of appreciation for the special sauce we are part of, for as long as we’ve got, for as long as it takes.
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