Chayei Sarah

 בס״ד

Chayei Sarah

Had this field been ripe with grass

Of this, we’re never told

Or nourished flocks of bleating sheep

Shepherd beckoning to the fold

What worth this cave that dwells within

What secrets there unfold

Had some wanderer once sought shelter there

One stormy night, when the year was old

Approaching now with seasoned steps,

With foot like leather soled,

An aged man puts forth his hand, 

A deed of sale, behold

With humble reverence he lifted her

Her radiance shone, like gold

As he rested she in the cavern there

In the grotto, by the fold

Vayeira

 בס״ד

Vayeira

(l'ilui nishmas Avrum Weiss, zt"l)

Like Avraham, outside his tent,

He saw people standing over him,

Arising from his pain he sent,

His smiling face to welcome them.

Avraham served them as he’d offered,

Milk and lamb and wafers thin,

But this one, from within his coffers,

Serves words which nourish, from within.

Avraham helped them on their way,

As the Torah says a host should do,

But this one, he can but stay,

His love and laughter follow you.

Avraham’s angels came and went,

Each one charged with just one task,

What this one’s angels represent,

Is a question I am loath to ask.

Lech Lecha, Lech Lecha, Avraham, 

Lech Lecha, Avrum, my friend,

This world is filled with your ahavah,

Now bring joy to the heavens… amen.

Lech Lecha

 בס״ד

Lech Lecha

At thirteen Yishmael was circumcised,

along with his father Avraham,

a painful moment of rebirth shared,

unique between father and son.

What a visceral link that must have been,

but what this parsha leaves unexpressed,

is that Yishmael will be sent away,

Although, he too, will be blessed.

What is the nature of the covenant sealed,

with this “wild ass” of a nation,

a character trait that’s generously shared,

with each subsequent generation?

Noach

 בס״ד

Noach

They could have been a band of brothers,

Survivors of a world be-drowned,

But Shem alone, and not the others,

Was close to God, so upward bound.

Brotherly love is not, at the last,

Assurance of spirit in common,

For Yafet followed a middle path,

And Cham, he chose the bottom.

When Aaron and Moshe Rebbeinu synced,

We see a fraternal exception,

The credit belongs to Miriam, I think,

For a sister can disarm dissension.

Bereishis

 בס״ד

Bereishis

- created again -

- formed of clay -

once more infused with

the breath of life

what choices shall we

make this time

- giving or taking -

- making or breaking -

- eternal life -

- or unrelenting struggle -

would we put down our pekele

if given the chance

or say “no thanks”

without our burdens

how can there be

joy

V'Zos HaBracha/Simchas Torah

 בס״ד

V'Zos HaBracha/Simchas Torah

East of the Jordan,

On a mountain in Gad,

Rest the footsteps of Moshe,

The last that he trod.

Not pillar, nor gravestone,

Has there been detected,

No stone, no matzevah,

Was ever erected.

Like Aaron his brother,

And Miriam, in death,

No tomb could suffice,

Once he drew his last breath.

No, he etched his own marker,

As was bound from his birth,

Upon tablets of stone,

Which he drew from the earth.

Shabbos Chol HaMoed Sukkos

 בס״ד

Shabbos Chol HaMoed Sukkos

First comes an earthquake,

Then Gog and Magog,

Next Moshiach is coming,

Before we’re too old.

So recline in your Sukkah,

Be joyful and sing,

We’ll rely on HaShem,

As we wield David’s Sling.

As Yechezkel predicted,

Perhaps for our dor,

We will use those who hate us,

to mop up the floor.