The Carousel of Light and Dark

In prayer, we seek to unite the left and right sides of our brain, our critical and creative minds. And no prayer does this better than Maariv Aravim.

Maariv Aravim acknowledges the line between science and poetry is indeed thin:

that when our ancestors saw goleil or mipnei choshech—

the slow fade of light into dark,

they saw not only the changing of the hours

but a wheel in the sky, rolling day into night like a cosmic carousel.

Around and around we ride,

and the organ music is intoxicating,

and the carousel operator is old but friendly.

And occasionally, like in the old days at Coney Island,

someone reaches out to try and grab the brass ring,

to try and touch what is just beyond reach,

to brush one’s fingers, if only for a moment, against that brass ring,

unable to fully grasp it, unable to pull it from its post.

We ride and ride again—

goleil or mipnei choshech, v’choshech mipnei or—

and the organ music is intoxicating,

and the carousel operator is old,

but wise,

and friendly.

Baruch Atah YHVH, ha-Ma’ariv aravim.