Capturing Revelation by Neil Amswych (Written for Shavuot 5763 - June 2003) "And it was that as the cohanim were leaving the sanctuary, that the cloud filled
the House of the Eternal. So the cohanim could not stand and minister because of the cloud, for the Glory of the Eternal filled the House of the Eternal. Until Solomon said, 'God said He would dwell in the thick
cloud.'" (I Kings 8:10-12) Shavuot is the night on which we commemorate the giving of the Torah to the Israelites on Mount Sinai. It was an awesome and terrifying event - there was thunder and lightning, a
heavy cloud upon the mountain and the almighty sound of the shofar (Exodus 19:16). Midrash tells us that when God initially spoke, the people could not handle hearing the Voice, and they were literally blown away by the
event (source?). Awesome indeed! And here in the first book of Kings, I am led to feel a similar encounter is happening. God's awesome Presence is revealed to people who cannot absorb such a generous event.
The incomprehensible becomes all too comprehensible and leads to a sensory and spiritual overload. For me, the narratives of Exodus (read through midrashic eyes) and I Kings connect through this sensory overload - God's
revelation is literally overwhelming, even to those best prepared for it. I have recently come to realise the source of my love of photography is a spiritual need. Occasionally, I see an image form in the
world in front of me that I need to capture. Perhaps something strikes me about the lighting. Perhaps it is a contrast - often between something natural and something constructed. What I do know is that very rarely can
I come back to the scene if my camera is not with me - the moment exists fleetingly, and if I don't capture it, the image is forever lost. For I while, I thought that this was mood-dependent - that certain moods created
certain photographic shots - but I now know that these moments can pop up when my mood points very much in the opposite direction. Once I had identified this, the rolls of film started piling up. It wasn't
that I was taking photos randomly, but I was seemingly hooked on capturing 'moments'. People, places, expressions. Suddenly everyone became interesting...fascinating. The way they moved, expressed themselves, reacted
with their environment. But the camera only speaks of a visual awareness. Once I put the camera down, I found myself becoming more aware of smells, sounds, contexts, textures, that I had previously taken
for granted. I was at sensory overload! It was one thing to capture a moment on 35mm film, it was quite another to smell it, feel it, hear it. Everywhere I looked there were 'moments' - my senses became alive and I
struggled not to become completely overwhelmed by experiencing the world around me. Solomon's words then became very prescient for me. "Yes," he seems to be saying "It is overpowering, but that's because
God is there. What else would you expect?" And it was only at this point that a new side of revelation came clear for me. Because now I felt I could relate to the midrash and to the passage in I Kings - one
can reach a point, often without even realising how one got there, where everything around you calls out God's Presence. It doesn't last long (how could it?) but this year when I think of revelation, I have come to
realise that it really is a daily phenomenon. However one understands the Sinai narrative, Jewish tradition has never taken it to be God's only contact with the human realm. God can be revealed to us on a daily basis. What this has taught me is that the environment around us, whether concrete and plaster, or grass and trees, speaks of God's Presence. So now I know that to capture those moments of revelation, I need to be
completely aware of my environment. Who is around me? What is around me? What does it smell like, feel like, hear like? I now also know that sometimes I can capture those revelatory moments by interacting with my
camera, and sometimes I simply have to commit those moments to memory. Personally, I'm lucky if one shot in every three reels of camera film is one worth framing. But what I do know is that in an effort to
get that one shot, I have experienced 'moments' with the environment around me - we have become one team working together to try to create a perfect picture - a perfect representation of the beauty of the moment. A
picture that reflects all the sensations of the moment. I feel that the world presents itself in front of the camera and says, "Look how astounding I am. Look at how beautiful. Look at how creative and diverse. Look at
how destructive. Please, capture that and understand fully what that means." And this new-found appreciation of the universe and of how it so beautifully announces God's Presence drives me even more to take
care of the world around me. Care for the environment has become for me not just a social responsibility, but a divine cry - "Protect me, or I can no longer reveal my beauty, and can no longer reveal God, to you." Click here to go to our environmental photo galleries.
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