|
Dust In the Wind article written by Rabbi Eckstein
LORD, what are human beings that you care for them,
mere mortals that you think of them?
They are like a breath;
their days are like a fleeting shadow. Psalm 144:34
I
was once riding a bus in Jerusalem, sitting next to a Hasidic Jew,
complete with a black hat and long beard, who was deeply immersed in the
holy book in his hand. We sat in silence.
Suddenly,
a song started to play on the bus radio. It was a song from the 70s
rock band Kansas, Dust in the Wind: I close my eyes only for a moment
and the moments gone . . . The song caught my attention, but no one
else seemed to notice. The lyrics continued: All we do crumbles to the
ground though we refuse to see . . .
At
that point, my riding partner took a break from his book and looked up.
The song went on, . . . Dust in the wind, all we are is dust in the
wind . . . The man turned to me and said, You know, there is a lot of
Torah in this song, a lot of truth. Then he looked down and studied his
book for the rest of the ride.
He was right. The idea that we are merely dust in the wind does have its roots in the Bible, and most obviously in Psalm 144.
The lyrics to this song go: LORD, what are human beings that you
care for them, mere mortals that you think of them? They are like a
breath; their days are like a fleeting shadow. But if that is truly the
case that we are nothing but a fleeting shadow or dust in the wind
then what is the value of our lives?
The
Hebrew word for human being is adam. It is also the name of the first
man. How did Adam get his name and why are we all called by that same
name? The Jewish sages point out that Adam was made from the dust of the earth, and the Hebrew word for dust is adama. Adam was made from adama.
But thats not the only substance that gave Adam life. Adam is also connected to the word adame, which means similar to. Adam was made in the image of God and was created with the capacity to be like God. The
sages conclude that Adam, and every human being since him, get to
determine the meaning of our name. We can represent nothing more than
the dust of the earth, or we can be a manifestation of eternal
godliness. The choice is ours.
This is the idea that David shares with us in Psalm 144. He agreed with the Kansas songs lyrics human beings are just dust in the wind. However, we can choose to become more. On our own, we are nothing, but when we choose God, we are infinitely more.
|
