Shemos

 בס״ד

Shemos

From sun-baked straw, and Nile mud,

Reddened with our children’s blood,

We cut and kilned our blocks of brick,

Under threat of lash and stick.

Not caring what the slabs were for,

Unlike that tower, in Shinar,

Where they sought to conquer God,

With purpose, hefted high their hods.

The bricks we made, they had no use,

They served to pile on abuse,

To crush us, that’s what was required,

Brick, after sodden brick, we fired.

We worked until our hands were raw,

And then they took away the straw,

With no objective, this decree,

Just to break us, you and me.

O Brick, you misbegotten clone,

Are an impostor, who masquerades as stone,

But the brickwork resting ‘neath God’s feet,

Is of sapphire, with heaven’s light replete*.

* Shemos 24:10, Parshas Mishpatim

Vayechi

 בס״ד

Vayechi

With visionless eyes, as the galus grows dark

Yaakov blesses his sons, yet he sees every spark.

Adam saw all the beasts, while Eden was bright

Called them by name, it was clear in his sight.

Some eyes can see, so long as it’s light

Others can pierce through the thickness of night.

Whose insight was greater, I’m not one to say

But using night vision seems tougher than day.

For Adam the difference ‘tween inside and out

Wasn’t so hidden, there wasn’t much doubt. 

But Yaakov looks deeper, with eyes growing dim

Obscured is the outside, he just sees the in.

As Bereishis was started, so now it ends

From darkness to darkness, and all that portends.

The starlight will weaken, all will seem drear

As we wait in our chains for the moon to appear.

Vayigash

 בס״ד

Vayigash

What emunah Yaakov models for us

one son assumed dead

another imprisoned by the vizier of Egypt 

who suspects all of the rest

How could he bear then

to send all his remaining sons away

deep into Mitzrayim’s clutches

not knowing if any would return

And when beyond hope they are restored

the living voices of Yosef 

and of his father’s God

call out to him to leave behind forever

his father’s home

Mikeitz

 בס״ד

Mikeitz

Yosef tries to trap them in a lie,

But his brothers tell the truth,

Yaakov scolds Yehudah, “Why?”,

Which reminds us of his youth.

They lade a caravan of donkeys,

With lotus, wax, and honey,

Pistachios, almonds, balsam, too,

And twice their purchase money.

Binyamin descends, as did his brother,

Amidst a cavalcade of spice,

To possible enslavement,

Will his arrival there suffice?

Yosef planned this choreography,

Down to the last detail,

To proof the tshuva of his brothers,

He gives them every chance to fail.

Will they protect his little brother,

Will they jettison Shimon,

Those who from jealousy and hatred,

Cast him naked from his home?

Vayeishev

 בס״ד

Vayeishev

uncloaked

not so much revealed to others

as to oneself

arrogant, beautiful Yosef

twice disrobed

each fall followed by a winter

that leads to a spring

Yehudah, bound to lead his brothers

must drop his pretenses

in order to learn

to be just

one must be uncloaked

for as many times as it takes

until the clothing 

has nothing left

to hide

Vayishlach

 בס״ד

Vayishlach

Above Ephrata climbs a mountain road

that Yaakov and his family strode

footsteps ascending from Beit-El

 towards Beit Lechem

where now sleeps Rachel

Timeworn, a mikvah there is found

Shafan* and Shual* yet abound

fringed with fig and almond tree

springing waters, dancing Tzvi*

Past Neve Daniel and Alon Shvut,

Elazar crouching by its foot

Sde Boaz and Rosh Tzurim

like rungs in the ladder of Yaakov’s dream

Yaakov, Yaakov, Yisrael

by both names you bear your tale

along the track that draws you home

to Kiryat Arba, which is Chevron

* Shafan = hyrax, Shual = fox, Tzvi = gazelle

Vayeitze

 בס״ד

Vayeitze

apparitions may take many forms

a sulam with angels

or a shepherdess with her flocks

with our waking eyes

do we see better

than in our dreams

who is to say whether 

there is more truth

in the one than in the other

how many layers of perception

must one attain

to discern that there is often

little difference

a dream is a vision

we imagine we see

and seeing is only

what we envision it to be