בס״ד
Noach
The dor of Noach falls flat on it’s face,
Even the earth is corrupt,
The animals, too, except for the fish,
From whose depths the dark waters erupt.
From Ararat’s peak, to the plains of Shinar,
One could say that it’s downhill from there,
Boulders are scarce, so they kiln the red mud,
A challenge of bricks scrapes the air.
Though mankind is scattered, a shimmer of hope,
Just a trickle from Ur Kasdim,
Once Avram ben Terach discovers The One,
No fiery furnace stops him.
בס״ד
Bereishis
Tohu v’vohu
a vacuum, not empty,
but less than empty,
a false vacuum
From this the world began,
not with perfection,
but imperfection
fundamental to the fabric of nature
Imperfection
at the very heart of creation
essential, unavoidable
the seed crystal of existence
Our primordial parents, driven to slake
an emptiness that must never be sated
and in the attempt
bore new life
Every act of creation stems
from that singular event
when nothing, rendered less than nothing
produced everything
*see Thinking About Creation, by Dr. Andrew Goldfinger
בס״ד
Shemini Atzeres/Simchas Torah/VZHB
It can’t be by chance that,
With arba minim,
We seek to unite His name,
As His Torah we complete.
Yisroel’s la-med,
The beis of Bereishis,
Become one, in our joy,
Forming a lev shalem.
His people and His world,
One created for the other,
The marriage sealed,
With this loving embrace.
Only beis and la-med can join,
With the letters of the Shem Havaya,
To make entire words,
Mine, His, Hers.*
In the verbalization of Creation,
Beis opening, la-med closing,
At the behest of the One,
Who speaks.
* Kli Yakar
בס״ד
Sukkos
Every season has its time,
It all happens by His will,
The world is neither yours nor mine,
Do all our efforts come to nil?
To find meaning I applied my mind,
But found existence way beyond me,
Madness, folly, just as blind,
How these questions weigh upon me.
“A riddle, wrapped in a mystery,
Inside of an enigma”,*
All existence, and all history,
We’re all at sea, so there’s no stigma.
Koheles sought but never found,
The key to heaven’s system,
But passed on to us his words profound,
To teach the path of wisdom.
* Winston Churchill, 1939
בס״ד
Yom Kippur
airplane flights where i
pored through a chumash
reading each line carefully
searching for meaning, direction
purpose
getting lost in Leviticus
one big “Huh?”
it must be here, it must be
somewhere
or not
digging deeply into
ashkenaz, sefard, chasidus,
and Marvelous Morocco
(those people are alive on the
planet)
but that is not mine either
kids whose paths are all different
from mine
but full of purpose
i like to think that perhaps
i had something to do with all that
just by being alive
may it all come to testify
on my behalf
בס״ד
Haazinu/Shabbos Shuva
Some crops can flourish
through storm and driving rain
others must have droplets
and gentle dew
And so it is with us
for some, the thrust and parry
of point and counterpoint
argument and reply
For others
the slow soaking drip irrigation
of words softly spoken
and hearts listening to hearts
Some are gripped by the thunder in the heavens
others embrace the gentle song of the earth
roar and whisper, zachar and nekeva
and, for each, a fitting witness
בס״ד
Rosh HaShanah
Are we not all offered up,
by our fathers and mothers,
their hearts in their throats,
to a world of smoke and fire?
Do we not then turn around,
give over our own sons and daughters,
and, with our very hands,
place them upon the same mizbeach?
Knowing only that God sees what we do,
that simple faith brings simple compassion,
our children, like us, designated from the womb,
to relinquish their dearest.
Inspired by the slicha אם אפס רבע הקן.
