Toldos

 בס״ד

Toldos

the awesome power of a bracha

incomprehensible except to those who

as in earlier times

believe in its transformative potency

to the sons of Yitzchok,

a divine and life-changing shefa

drawn down by their aged father

opalescent, enveloping, tangible

Ephraim, Menasheh, Sara, Rivka, Rachel, Leah

by these we bless all of our children

this beloved Shabbos ritual 

the simple bracha we know

oh, to be capable of giving

as did our forebears

a blessing for each child

unique as their own neshama

help me to discern that bracha

for every precious gem

which celebrates their essence 

kli and shefa, matim, one to the other

Chayei Sarah

 בס״ד

Chayei Sarah

No familial warmth for Avraham,

No eineklach on his knees,

Seven sons he casts away,

Plus the one he never sees.

Quite a tragic figure,

If you think about his life,

This lonely man of God,

Who lifted high his knife.

Yitzchok, too, will see no joy,

One son cries out in pain,

Then off will flee the younger boy,

And not be seen again.

Somber seem our sires’ tales,

Sorry songs of sadness,

Not the ore I’m digging for,

As I mine this world for gladness.

Vayeira

 בס״ד

Vayeira

Like Noach, Lot is loathe to leave,

Still the warning’s very clear,

Though society has become corrupt,

The unknown’s a greater fear.

Noach’s world, by water drowned,

Lot’s was burned by fire,

The tevah lands on Ararat,

Lot climbs a mountain, with his daughters.

The girls then get their father drunk,

They give him too much wine,

Noach drinks a bit too much,

Of the product of his vines.

An empty world must now be filled,

Maybe true, or just perception,

But, in the process, there’s a tragic flaw,

Of moral indiscretion.

Avraham Avinu left all he knew,

Unhampered by hesitation,

So unto him the lot does fall,

To launch a chosen nation.

Lech Lecha

 בס״ד

Lech Lecha

It seems to me, from Adam on,

There’s little time to rest,

Any place we feel at home,

Is temporary, at best.

Avram must leave his country,

A place where he is known,

And be uprooted from his birthplace,

The field where he was sown.

And last of all, his father’s house,

Though he’s the youngest son,

He could have lived a cushy life,

Out there in old Haran.

It’s no small thing to pull up roots,

But stability is an illusion,

Our fortunes are like a water wheel,

A flood of time allusion.

At mabul’s end, our land calls out,

Like Lech Lecha, above,

A place, at last, our foot to rest,

Like Noach’s ivory dove.

Noach

 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.

Bereishis

 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

Shemini Atzeres/Simchas Torah/V'zos HaBracha

 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