by Jennifer Saber
“Go see the David.”
A close friend (a world traveler and lover of art and history) didn’t hesitate for a moment when I told her I was visiting my daughter studying abroad in Florence, Italy.
“Make sure you go see the David.”
So I texted my daughter. “I was told we MUST see the David. Let’s get the skip-the-line tickets so we can check that box and then move on to my own bucket list.” Pasta, pizza, and the Holocaust memorial my professor at Yeshiva University told me to look for near Tempio Maggiore di Firenze, The Great Synagogue in Florence.
As I often do before traveling, I did a little research. I typed into ChatGPT, “Tell me the highlights of the Accademia Museum where we will see the David. What else should I look for?” And something unexpected came up.
Before you reach the David, who is situated at the end of a long,crowded hallway, you pass by Michelangelo’s “Prisoners” (or “Slaves”). These are a series of unfinished sculptures. Life-sized human figures, partially carved, each in a different stage of emergence from the marble.
I stood there, mesmerized. Carved from solid Carrara marble, the figures appeared trapped within the stone, as if something fully formed is already there, waiting to be uncovered. (As the story goes, Michelangelo believed that the figures already existed within the marble. His role was simply to reveal it.)
Before me was a figure clearly unfinished.
Incomplete.
As the crowd carried me forward, I found myself searching my memory for one of the many blessings Jewish tradition teaches us to say when we pause to notice the world around us. One came to mind, a blessing recited during the month of Nisan, when we begin to see the fruit-bearing trees just starting to bloom in the spring:
Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha’olam, shelo chisar b’olamo klum, u’vara vo
briyot tovot v’ilanot tovim lehehanot bahem b’nei adam.
Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Sovereign of the universe, who has made nothing
lacking in His world, and created within it good creatures and good trees for people to enjoy.
I wasn’t standing before a blooming fruit tree during Nisan, so I didn’t recite the blessing. But I found myself pausing to consider the meaning of its words.
God created a world with nothing lacking? In a world that so often feels unfinished?
In the Jewish calendar, the month of Nisan is a time of beginnings, of spring, of growth, and of new possibilities. The trees are not yet fully in bloom. The world itself still feels in process. And yet, we are invited to say a blessing that describes it as complete.
Standing before Michelangelo’s unfinished figures, I began to see that idea differently. Perhaps completeness does not mean perfection. Perhaps it does not mean finished. Perhaps it means that everything needed for growth is already present. Even if it has not yet fully taken shape.
Michelangelo saw potential within the stone and trusted that something whole was already there, waiting to be revealed.
Maybe the same is true of the world.
Maybe the same is true of us.
What if the parts of our lives that feel unfinished are not lacking, but still forming? What if this season of Nisan, with its budding trees and quiet renewal, is reminding us that growth often begins beneath the surface, long before it is fully visible?
This month invites us to notice those beginnings….in the world around us and within ourselves. To see not only what is incomplete, but what is already present.
As we move into this season of Nisan, consider:
What in your life feels unfinished? How might you begin to see it not as lacking, but as still taking shape?
To continue the conversation about the themes of Nisan, join Chai Mitzvah’s virtual session on Tuesday, March 24 at 7:30 pm Eastern Time for Evening Rosh Chodesh Nisan.
Jennifer Saber is the Manager of Community Engagement and Partnerships for Chai Mitzvah.
West Hartford, CT
860.206.8363
info@chaimitzvah.org
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That was wonderful ! I’m so proud of you.