Chukas

 בס״ד

Chukas

Red cows without blemish,

Then Miriam dies,

At Tzin, in the Land of Kadesh.

Then the waters dry up,

And the people now turn,

On her brother - their leader - Reb Maysh.

Moshe strikes the rock twice,

Without having a chat,

To convince that reluctant fountain.

And in wording redundant,

Aaron goes to his grave,

Ascending the heights of Mount Mountain.

The Book of the Wars of HaShem,

Is brought down,

As if we are apt to know it.

And Israel takes all of the Amorite towns,

That were Sichon’s…

Per the words of some poet!

Korach

 בס״ד

Korach

Korach’s gang brings burning incense,

In a challenge to their Rav.

Did they learn next to nothing,

From Abihu and Nadav?

Yet there is a clearer vision,

That comes out of this disaster:

Each Jew’s tafkid is designer made,

A craft he’s called to master.

No one else can fill your shoes,

Not in our theology,

Every link is joined together,

In a celestial ecology.

Each Kohain must take pains to shield,

The Levi from overreaching,

Each Levi, then, protects and serves,

The Am, to whom he’s preaching.

And, with love, each Jew provides,

For the families of the Levi’im,

And they, in turn, take maaser from that,

For their brothers, the Kohan’im.

Shelach

 בס״ד

Shelach

This Parsha teaches us a lesson,

But we have yet to learn it,

Though the Land of Israel is a gift,

Still, we have to earn it.

Beha'aloscha

 בס״ד

Beha’aloscha

The time has come, the Torah says,

To speak of many things,

Of Pesach - and Pesach Sheni,

Of Menorah - and Levi’im.

Of journeys at HaShem’s command,

Of visions of fire and cloud,

Of each tribe in its essential place,

Of silver horns, and loud.

Of lusting now to savor meat,

 Of dubbing munn unpleasant,

Of naught but quail for a month of days,

Of losing their taste for pheasant.

Of prophecy cast beyond Moshe,

To the seventy sages, by G-d,

Of new voices heard within the camp,

Those of Eldad, and Medad.

Of whispered insinuations spoke,

Beyond their brother’s hearing,

Of tzara’as, and a heartfelt prayer,

Of waiting for Miriam’s healing.

(with apologies to Lewis Carroll)

Naso

 בס״ד

Naso

Through the Midbar stride the Kohathites,

And they bear the holiest things,

Gilded staves upon their shoulders,

Which are fed through golden rings.

Not with wagons, you families of Amrom,

Yitzhar, Hevron, and Uzziel,

Your conveyance is but brawn and bone,

Your strength not known to fail.

Moshe’s sons serve among the bearers,

These grandsons of Yisro and Amrom,

Humbler, in a way, than their father,

For their tale does not go on.