S L O W T I M E

Easter Thursday

Martin Buber

I spent ALL day yesterday with a few dear friends.

Such a luxury.

But then again…not really.

I only think of it as a luxury because I have forgotten

I have forgotten that it takes slow time 

to build and sustain life giving relationships. 

Why do I keep thinking that a luxury?

Why? 

What are all those tasks that I have allowed to supplant this one?

I am, I think, suffering from a kind anemia of what sustains joy

And at the same time…polycythemia

(what you get when you google ‘the opposite of anemia’)

of what in fact pick-pockets joy

What is UP with that?

Martin Buber reminds me of this on Easter - Day 5:

After the maggid’s death, 

his disciples came together 

and talked about the things he had done.  

When it was Rabbi Schneur Zalman’s turn, 

he asked them: 

“Do you know why our master 

went to the pond every day at dawn 

and stayed there for a little while 

before coming home again?”* 

They did not know why.

Rabbi Zalman continued: 

“He was learning the song 

with which the frogs praise God.  

It takes a very long time to learn that song.”

slow time 

There is such a thing.

*As referenced in Easter, A Sourcebook, edited by Gabe Huck, Gail Ramshaw, Gordon Lathrop, p18, from ‘Tales of the Hasidim, The Early Masters’ by Martin Buber, translated by Olga Marx Perzweig, 1947