RUACH: AIR, WIND, AND GOD
“Not by might and not by power, but by spirit alone, ruach! Shall we all live in peace.”
I’m sure many of you know this song by Debbie Friedman. This was a song I have sung at
Jewish camps since I was a kid, and I have an adorable video of my two boys singing it at 4 and 2
years old. It’s a great song, filled with tons of spirit and energy when we sing it, but most of us have
no idea what it really means. I’ll have more to say about the meaning later, but for now, hone in on
the word “ruach,” one of the words that can be used to describe the element of wind or air, which,
continuing our theme of the four elements, is the one I will be focusing on today.
Today’s sermon is dedicated to the memory of Leonard Fixler, who was known for his
warmth, his kindness, his joke telling, and his commitment to the Jewish people, the Men’s
Club, and Temple Beth Abraham. Continuing the theme of the four basic physio/spiritual
elements of the universe, I associate Leonard with the element of air/wind. When I think of air,
I think of the Heavens above, and I connect that to Leonard for two reasons. First, Leonard had
an other-worldly spirit about him, perhaps because of his innate personality or perhaps
because he was a survivor of the Holocaust. Secondly, regarding his story of survival, he used
to say that “if there’s a Heaven, I will definitely get there because I’ve already been to Hell and
back.” If you’re listening Leonard, and even if you’re not, these words are for you.
Earth, fire, and water are always called earth, fire, and water, but today’s element is
sometimes called wind, sometimes called air, sometimes the sky, sometimes the spirit. Hebrew
uses several terms for this phenomenon as well. Let’s start with the one in the song, which is
also the one which connects to today’s Torah reading, the word “shamayim.” It is usually
translated as sky, but sometimes as Heaven, as is the case in today’s Torah reading. Abraham
has just picked up the knife to sacrifice his son Isaac, when, “Vayikra alav malach Adonai min
hashamayim, a messenger of God calls Avraham from Heaven, Avraham, Avraham, do not raise
your hand against the boy. And the term is used twice more in the passage, once to call
Avraham a second time and once to describe just how rewarding Avraham’s life will be for his
displayed loyalty to God. His descendants will be “k’chocvei Hashamayim,” as numerous as the
stars in the Heaven, and, I suppose by implication, shiny and Divine as well.
Let’s look at a second term, probably a more common term to associate with the
element of air or wind, the word, ruach, which I sang about at the beginning of this drash. This
word ruach, is sometimes translated as wind but sometimes as spirit, as in God’s holy spirit. It
can even be translated as ghost! That’s in terms of modern Hebrew. In sacred texts ruach
appears most often in conjunction with God, as in the phrase “ruach Elohim,” the spirit of God.
It occurs in Genesis 1 on the very first day of creation. A “ruach Elohim,” a wind, or is it
spirit, of God blowing over the surface of the water, and from there, God says “let there be
light.” God’s wind or spirit is a necessary condition for bringing light to the world.
It occurs three times in Psalm 51, where David is pleading with God for forgiveness and
a restoration of their relationship after his affair with Batsheva. "Create in me a clean heart, O
God; and renew a “nachon ruach, a right spirit” within me. 12 "Restore unto me the joy of thy
salvation; and uphold me with a ruach n’diva, a voluntary spirit." And 11"Cast me not away
from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit “ruach kodshecha” from me." Clearly, the
implication is that David is not whole when he is without this Divine ruach.
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The term is used similarly in Isaiah 63, where Isaiah is reviewing past troubles with the
Jewish people in exile. "But they rebelled, and grieved his “ruach kodsho,” holy spirit; therefore
he turned to be their enemy, and himself fought against them.” And "then he remembered the
days of old, of Moses and his people, saying, Where is the One that brought them up out of the
sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where is the one who put “Ruach kodsho,” his holy spirit,
in the midst of them?" Once again, we are not whole as a people unless the Ruach Kodsho, the
holy spirit, is with us.
The Talmud, in Makkot 23b, lists three situations in the Bible which were so critical that
the “Ruach Kodesh,” the Holy Spirit came down to help judge: at the judgment of Shem in
Genesis 19:13, where Judah is forced to acknowledge that he sought out a prostitute and
ended up sleeping with his son’s widow, Tamar; at the judgment of Samuel, when Samuel is
forced to obey the people’s will and appoint in earthly king even though God is supposed to be
our one and only Sovereign; and at the judgment of Solomon, where each of the two women
lay claims to the child and Solomon threatens to cut them in half. In other words, in life and
death situations which have the power to change the course of the history of the Jewish people
in the Tanach, the Ruach Elohim descends.
In all these uses of the term ruach, the commonality is that this element of wind/air is
vitally connected to God. This point is driven home by the use of the term Ruach on its own in
Zechariah 4:6, which is part of the Haftarah we read for Chanukah. I’m sure many of you know
the song “Not by might and not by power, but by spirit alone, ruach! Shall we all live in peace.”
This was a song I have sung at Jewish camps since I was a kid, and I have an adorable video of
my two boys singing it at 4 and 2 years old. It’s a great song, filled with tons of spirit and energy
when we sing it, but most of us have no idea what it really means. The Hebrew phrase, from
Zechariah 4:6 is “Lo v’chayil, v’lo v’koach, ki im b’ruchi, amar Adonai, not by might or military
prowess, not by physical strength or power, but by my spirit, says God.” What is the context
here, and what, specifically, is to be accomplished not by human strength but solely by God’s
spirit? The prophet Zechariah is speaking here to the Governor of Judea, Zerubavel, as he
attempts to rebuild the Beit Hamikdash, the Great Temple. Rashi says that the Temple will be
restored, but not because of physical human strength; rather it will be because the spirit of
God, the ruach Elohim, will inspire Darius the King of Persia to allow you to build the Temple in
peace and even help. While we may believe in ourselves, remember, with humility, that you are
not solely responsible for the gifts in your life; for that, we are indebted to God. In other words,
it’s not about you; it’s about God!
Finally, there is one more term associated with air and wind, and that is neshama, which
is the Hebrew word for both breath and soul. The two are combined in the second account of
the creation of humanity in Genesis. God forms man by blowing into his nostrils “nishmat
chaim,” the breath of life, and from there Adam becomes a “nefesh chayah,” a living soul.
And just a few moments ago we blew the shofar. It literally takes a lot of wind and a lot
of breath to blow this instrument, tekiah, and that breath once again symbolizes our
connection to God. Yes, it’s a call to action, wake up, repent, be better people this year. But it’s
primary purpose is to call us to return—specifically to God, to renew our relationship with
Hashem. And it takes us right back to the Akedah, which we read from in the Torah today, to
the angel from the Heavens who called off Abraham and had him substitute the ram for his son
as the offering to God.
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I realize fully well that this was more lecture today than sermon. I tend to make my 2 nd
Day Rosh Hashana sermon either really controversial or really educational. But, as I have gone
through the complexity of the various Hebrew terms for the element of wind or air, the
common theme that emerges is actually quite simple. God. It is all about God. More than any of
the other elements, wind and air are metaphors for God. With the other elements, you can see
them, touch them, smell them, or taste them, but with this element, you can’t do any of these
things. But at certain moments in our lives, we can certainly feel its presence. Whether calling
us from the Shamayim, as the angel called to Avraham, or teaching us that we are not whole
without the ruach Elohim, the spirit of God, as manifested by the passages in Psalm 51, Isaiah,
and Talmud Makkot, or by reminding us that God is part of the very air that we breathe, as in
the term Neshama in the creation story in Genesis 2 and in the blowing of the shofar, may this
year be a year where we are able to appreciate this element, both air that we breathe that
maintains our life and the spirit of God which sustains our souls.