Sometimes a Daffodil is More Than a Yellow Flower

My better half raised his beautiful brows when I told him my thoughts for this week’s J-E-W. After all, this site is dedicated to Enhancing Your Now. Valid. I reconsidered, but here I am anyway. This space is just as much about enhancing my life, my now. It’s my shared world where I reflect and work things through, even the shadowy side.

I wager at least some of my Jewish readers may have looked at the yellow star of the daffodil’s back and seen another kind of yellow star, the kind Jews were forced to wear in a past that is never too distant.

We have just finished a cycle of three modern Jewish holidays collectively called the Yamim (plural for days): Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), Yom HaZikaron (a day memorializing soldiers who lost their lives fighting in the War of Independence and subsequent battles, as well as civilian victims of terrorism), and Yom HaAtzmaut (Independence Day, marking the anniversary of the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948). A fourth, Yom Yerushalayim, celebrates the 1967 reunification of Jerusalem and occurs next month

I looked at this daffodil, the green stem of spine supporting the blossom. It seemed to peer at the patch of sky reflected in the small puddle nearby. I couldn’t help but think of six million murdered Jews who had peered Heavenward on a blue-sky day, and silently screamed , “Why?”

One day, one day, may all humanity look to the blue heavens, spines straight, faces uplifted and none shall be afraid.

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Cranbrook Spring

Cranbrook. One word, six marvels. Formally known as the Cranbrook Educational Community, the CEC consists of a graduate Academy of Art, a contemporary Art Museum, an historic House and Gardens, a natural history museum and Pre-K through 12 independent college preparatory schools .In August 1989, Cranbrook became a National Historic Landmark, America’s highest designation for a place of outstanding historical significance. To walk these grounds is to experience the vision of apogee of human potential.

This week, I share with you Martin’s latest image from the gardens just behind Cranbrook House. If you live anywhere in Southeast Michigan and haven’t been here, what are you waiting for? If you live farther away, put it on your list. Let me know you’re visiting and I’ll come with you!

Photo courtesy of Martin Darvick

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