בס״ד
Emor
The Kohen’s eyebrows must not be too long,
He must serve without blemish or boil,
Since poured on his head,
With the greatest of care,
Was the holy anointment oil.
Kohen and Levi and Yisrael,
Must work hard to maintain their kedushah,
And relate to each other,
With only respect,
Anything else is a busha.
Pesach is past, Shavuos is coming,
Spring flowers into the Summer,
So I give you each day,
An occasion to bloom,
By counting the days of the Omer.
בס״ד
Acharei Mos-Kedoshim
Does it strike you as curious,
As well it might,
That before the listing,
Of what is not right,
God tells us first,
From the very first moment,
What the Kohen does,
To bring atonement?
For the listing is rife,
With the expectation,
That in order to be,
A Holy Nation,
The first thing we need is
Yom Kippur,
So for each wrong step,
We’ll have a cure.
בס״ד
Tazria-Metzora
There’s something wondrous about 7 days,
The time it took for Creation,
That a Metzora waits at least that long,
To rejoin the Holy Nation.
Shemini taught us what is pure,
Of animal, fish, or other,
But Tumah rests on people, too,
Including a newborn’s Mother.
Your house or clothes or skin as well,
If there’s a blemish in the tissue,
The Kohen takes a closer look,
To see if there’s an issue.
And after 33, 66, or 8,
And maybe even longer,
One who is patient will be cleansed,
And come back even stronger.
בס״ד
Shemini
Of these birds you shan’t eat,
But of beasts, fish, and such,
Look for the simanim I give you.
And offer up only that which I command,
Or end up like Nadav and Abihu.
The wisdom I give in Torah Sh’Bichtav,
You shall listen to just as I say,
But Moshe and Aaron,
And those who come later,
Can derive for you Torah Sh’Baal Peh.
“V’haitem Kedoshim” is what I command,
What is forbidden to you do not do kach,
But just as important,
If not even more,
Is be Mekadesh in what is Mu-tar Lach.
בס״ד
Shevi’i shel Pesach
When HaShem did famous miracles,
Like the splitting of the Sea,
We knew that we’d seen something,
That otherwise could not be.
Because of that we sang a Song,
It came straight from our heart,
We danced and sang and beat our drums,
When we saw the waters part.
But miracles happen all the time,
Although they’re not so obvious,
We get used to “normal” wonders,
And to these we are oblivious.
The Sun comes up each morning,
The Moon and Stars each night,
A baby’s breath, so sweet and clear,
Most things turn out all right.
Shouldn’t we sing songs each time we see,
Our loving family gather?
And praise HaShem for little miracles,
For the things that really matter?
