R’tseh

            Legend recalls that when Israel was exiled from Jerusalem, the winged presence of God (the Shechina) took flight as well, departing from the Holy of Holies to the outer precincts of the Temple, then into the city of Jerusalem, and then to the Mount of Olives.  From the Mount of Olives, the Divine Presence flew up and vanished into the wilderness, where Israel had first found her centuries earlier and enticed her, domesticating her and building for her a series of sacred roosts.

            R’tseh is our prayer of longing, a song of hope and yearning for the return of the lost bird, the winged Shechina.  The prayer ends with our eyes, scanning the horizon, straining to the outer limits of our perception.  Our souls, said the psalmist, wait for the presence of God, “like watchmen for the morning.” (Psalm 130:6)  We wait for a stirring, for any sign at all, that the rarest and shyest of birds, which once loved us, might finally be ready to return home.