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

Sukkos

 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

Yom Kippur

 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

Haazinu/Shabbos Shuva

 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

Rosh HaShanah

 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.

Netzavim-Vayeilech

 בס״ד

Netzavim-Vayeilech

Together we stand, and together 

we fall,

The choices are ours, be it sunshine 

or squall,

The more we accuse, and speak ill 

about “them”,

Misfortune will follow, so don’t 

blame HaShem.

All of creation responds to 

our actions,

If we choose to unite, or divide 

into factions,

To our Land we’ve returned, from darkness 

to light,

Despite all our errors, we did 

some things right. 

The song we now sing, is a tune of 

our making,

Make it resonate well, and not set the 

earth quaking,

So, stand as our witnesses, heaven

 and earth,

Air, water, and dust, the stuff of 

our birth.