Grass for Thought
So when you see the grass outside, not only is it a pleasant color, a happy hue; a beautiful green carpet that creates for you an ever-present background of serenity, of happiness.
ָך∆ל√ﬠָפּ¿ב ה׳ יƒנַּ ̇¿חַּמׂƒ ̆ יּƒכ – Hashem, You make me happy with Your handiwork (Tehillim 92:5). And not only does it supply a freshening to the air, more oxygen and a sweet scent that flavors the summer days but most important of all is that all the happiness of the summer grass is intended to encourage you to think about the grass, to become more aware of the Creator of the grass.
Now, if you look at grass like a cow sees it, like a dumb ox, so it won’t mean anything to you—just another detail of summer. But if you want to live according to the blueprint so you’ll think.
You know, grass is a miracle! Where does it come from? Grass is sunlight, that's all.
“Sunlight?!” they say? Yes. The grass is not hiding underground waiting to come up. It’s a creation of the sun. Sunlight comes from so far away and it mixes with a little bit of a green chemical called chlorophyll and the chlorophyll breathes in the carbon dioxide from the air and ooh-ah! It creates a blade of grass.
The World Runs on Grass
And the blade of grass is the beginning of everything. Everything? Yes! Our clothing is grass. Sheep eat grass and turn it into wool. Where does wool come from? From the grass that the sheep eat. Sheep eat grass and they produce wool from the grass. So our clothing is nothing but grass.
Grass also supplies us with milk. The cows eat grass and they produce milk. Cheese and butter and cream all come from the grass that cows eat. Not only milchigs—Hashem is not stingy. Because the cow eats grass and makes itself bigger; the grass turns into meat for us to eat. Also it produces calves with that grass. So we get new meat machines that come from grass.
Planted People
And we’re grass too! Because people eat animals and they make meat out of it; they grow. How does a nine pound baby become a 180 pound man? You know, once you were a little boy like this, this big. Your mother carried you on one arm. Now she can't carry you on one arm anymore. You're 180 pounds now. Where did all the rest of the pounds come from? From the air? No; because he ate food that grows from the ground and meat. Where did all that meat come from? It came from the grass that grew. And so our bodies are from grass. ירƒˆָח רָׂ ָּ̆בַה לָּכ – All our flesh is nothing but grass.
And this wonderful miracle product, you don’t even have to plant it; it’s supplied by Hashem. He plants grass, like it states in the Chumash, ָך¿„ָׂ ּ̆¿ב בׂ∆ ̆≈ﬠ יּƒ ַ̇ ָ̇נ¿ו – I’ll give grass in the fields (Devarim 11:15). That's why grass is rhizomes; what does this word mean? It grows from roots that remain over winter in the ground. It's not seeds that you have to plant. Some grass grows from seeds but they fall in abundance and they lie in the ground and in the springtime it comes up by itself. Hashem says, יƒּ ַ̇ ָ̇נ¿ו ָ ̇¿עָבָׂ ̆¿ו ָּ ̇¿לַכָ‡¿ו ... ָך¿„ָׁ ̆¿ּב ב∆ׂ ̆≈ﬠ – “I’ll plant the world with grass and thereby you’ll be able to eat and be satisfied” (ibid.).
