This Shabbat we start a new month, Sivan. We are told that on this day, the waters of the Great Flood finally began to recede. We often think of Biblical events as distant and singular, yet recent flood disasters in Japan and along the Mississippi River remind us of the immediacy of such an event. When flood waters finally begin to recede, the devastation does not disappear, but hope for possible
turnaround and recovery rises as the waters fall.
