Emor

 בס״ד

Emor

Three in the autumn, two in the spring,

Two from our Rabbis, whose praises we sing,

Ordained in the winter, beginning and end,

Because of the miracles, the Aibishter sends.

The summer for mourning, because of disasters,

One after the other - fast, and then faster,

Each season has reasons, to gather together,

And Shabbos is Shabbos, no matter the weather.

Matza, and cheese cake, and huts in the yard,

All challenging topics for this humble bard,

Candles, and latkes, triangular hats,

Honey, and apples, and penitent fasts.

Palm fronds, and myrtle, and pieces of willow,

Shaken with esrog, outside, by the window,

The Torah is given, our neshamas to nourish,

Like water for crops, we need it to flourish.

It’s all done together, one’s never alone,

In shul, or beis medrash, or even at home,

The year, it connects us, one to the other,

Brothers and sisters, and fathers and mothers.

Acharei Mos-Kedoshim

 בס״ד

Acharei Mos-Kedoshim

You shall be holy -

when you shecht and when you eat

when you sow and when you reap

you shall gather for the poor

the gleanings left beyond your door

You shall be holy -

you shall not steal, you shall not lie

nor by My Name shall you swear by

you shall not cheat, nor shall you rob

to be faithful to your God

You shall be holy -

all your workers pay on time

respect the deaf, protect the blind

judge with fairness, don’t tell tales

and be honest with your scales

You will become holy -

when b’ein adam l’chavero

is the way you choose to go

Tazria-Metzora

 בס״ד

Tazria-Metzora

tumah - so alien to us

might as well be from another planet

as foreign to us

as a Beis HaMikdash

deprived of place and process for tahara

we live immersed in tumah

which would have banned us

from the Temple’s precincts

homes, clothes, utensils,

contaminated - but we don’t notice

like the barefoot aborigine

whose calloused feet anesthetize him

unlike the tender soles of that storied Rabbi

in agony from every piddling pebble

Shemini

 בס״ד

Shemini

What could be the difference, I wondered,

Nadav and Abihu’s alien flame,

From HaShem’s commands, they wandered,

To innovate, beyond the frame.

Yet Chazal, of lower generations,

Overrule Rabbi Eliezer’s signals,*

Our Creator, it seems, had other intentions,

But with Beis Din’s rulings, never mingles.

Where did they find it written down,

That Rabbis’ logic rules below,

Are Shamayim’s hands so closely bound?

In Moshe’s time, this was not so.

Anointment oil no protection,

For the Kohen who strayed from the path,

Yet later wise men chose rejection,

And did not incur their Master’s wrath.

Would that God would be explicit,

In these days of shades of grey,

What is true, and what illicit,

Who in our time can truly say?

* Baba Metzia 59a-59b

Shevi'i shel Pesach

 בס״ד

Shevi’i shel Pesach

Says Rav Doron Perez, it’s truly the case,

That goals are achieved through a process,

One step at a time to be nurtured with care,

To be savored, like loving caresses.

Every rung in the ladder, a moment of thanks,

As we count, and see if we've progressed,

Learnt who we are, and what we could become,

With each nightfall, the next day is blessed.

Whether forty long years, or forty short days,

Or forty-nine treks to the dream,

To each day there’s a dawn, as well as a dusk,

Every moment, much more than it seems.

Vast splitting seas, or great mountains concealed,

In smoke, and in lightning, and fire,

Though the goal be far off, or painfully near,

Each dayenu we sing, brings us nigher.

Shabbos Chol Hamoed Pesach

 בס״ד

Shabbos Chol HaMoed Pesach

Thirteen is not just a number,

It’s א.ח.ד, if these letters are added,

The identical count for HaShem’s rachamim,

To drash Torah - Reb Yishmael expanded.

A boy can finally count as one,

In a minyan of his peers,

Once he attains, in the fullness of time,

The age of thirteen years.

The Rambam lists thirteen ikarim,

Required for our faith,

Add a thirteenth month for a leap year,

To put Pesach in its place.

In the mystical realm of Kabbalah,

Divine compassion, and olam, entwine,

Chesed and gevurah revealed as one,

(It was that way all the time).

Pesach

בס״ד

Pesach

Amidst missiles and sirens

Am Yisroel focuses upon

moving forward.

As darts of destruction fly overhead,

I wonder, as they pass over me,

What would be if some Angel

Contemplated crossing my bloodless doorway?

What sign shall I make to indicate,

It is me and mine within,

We and others, sheltered,

Behind a portal of steel and concrete.

Perhaps I will,

Yes, brush in hand,

Perhaps I will mark our inner lintel,

With, a shimmering streak, of scarlet.