Rabbi's Blog

Not just one kid, but eight!  Beautiful, healthy baby goats all born in the week leading up to Pesach to Boulder’s Jewish Goat Co-op, also known as Beit Izim.  First there was Alfalfa who birthed triplets on Sunday with great help from Ru and Bob Wing and, miraculously, Bat Mitzvah student Becca Bloom, who confidently stuck in her arm and hand delivered number two!  On Monday Clover gave birth to twin boys in the presence of more than half of Bonai Shalom’s staff!  Finally in the early hours of Tuesday morning, Black Diamond produced three more, again with much help and encouragement from the our friends in the Wings! If you would like an opportunity to name any of these eight baby goats and to support our co-op, Beit Izim, please click here.

I had the enormous privilege of being present at the births of all eight of these precious creatures, which was very moving.  Bob asked if I could come up with a bracha, a blessing on the occasion of the new births.  What came to me was: “Baruch hamakom sh’notayn chayim l’kol habriot – Blessed is the Source (literally the Place) who gives life to all creatures.”  There is nothing more life affirming than seeing an animal give birth and witnessing the power of natural instincts as the mother licks clean her young and as the kids fumble to find the source of the their mother’s milk.

Spring is really here!  We see blossoms on the trees, feel sunshine our face, smell the earth and witness birth and renewal all around us.  One of the other names for Pesach is Chag HaAviv, the Spring Festival, and the complicated calculations of the Jewish calendar are all to ensure that we celebrate this Festival of Freedom during the spring, with the buds of hope blooming.  Baby goats are a powerful manifestation of the wonder and beauty of this season and its promise of rebirth.  These kids are not for sale; especially not for a mere two zuzim!  Mazal tov to us all and Happy Spring Festival! Chag sameach!