Tag: Psalm 23

Richard Chess
One night, desperate for something to quiet my mind (worrying about work, my responsibilities as new department chair), I recalled a verse from the 23rd psalm, He makes me lie down by still waters. The waters of menuchot, deep rest, the kind of rest experienced by God on the seventh day and available to Jews who observe the Sabbath. Well, I mis-recalled that verse, but saying it and visualizing the experience of lying by the waters of menuchot brought me a moment of relief that night. Not sleep, but a brief ceasefire in my war with insomnia.