I have had the words to Psalm 93 playing in my head like the most tenacious of  earw orm s over the last week. This chapter of Psalms recited as the Psalm of the Day on  Friday mornings and sung over Shabbat begins by recounting how God is clo aked i n majesty and grandeur. Those opening phrases, however, are not the words that echo for me. Instead, I replay these verses in my head: "The rivers have lifted up, Hashem, the rivers have lifted up their voices, and the rivers lift up their pounding waves. But above the roar of the strong and voluminous waters, above the mighty breakers of the sea, Hashem on high is mightiest." Watching the news reports from Houston and coastal Texas this week, I have seen the pounding and mighty waters consume so much, angrily and haphazardly claiming lives and property. As I view the devastation wrought by the recent hurricane, I wonder about these verses. Nature certainly serves as a potent daily reminder of God's presence in our lives and the forces with which the world was created. The Malbim (a 19th century rabbi, grammarian and Torah scholar) confirms that God is usually manifest through the natural order. Rarely does God resort to the supernatural or miraculous. While I do not consider the events of the past week miraculous, I certainly think of them as supernatural. This chapter of Psalms, and the Malbim in his commentary, provide me a more comforting perspective. God resides in both the natural and supernatural, the ordinary and the extraordinary. Adorned with both majesty and strength, God performs miracles even in the natural world; we may have to attune our souls to recognize those miracles. The devastation to Texas is real, incomprehensible, and traumatic-but the Pslamist reminds us that God reigns supreme and God's might will overcome the roaring and rushing waters. And how do we see that now, today, as we see the news reports? We see the miracle of human kindness, the spark of God burning in every individual.

Today, our Akiba 8th graders glowed brightly with that spark. At Jewish Family Service, they sorted and packaged items to aid hurricane victims living in shelters in our city. Our Akiba family has reached out, gathered, collected, donated, and worked to ease the pain and suffering of those affected by the hurricane. Our community models chesed, kindness, and embodies God's benevolence in every act.

Shabbat Shalom,