Vayeitze

 בס״ד

Vayeitze

Bachora and bracha he bears to the Place,

Where he dreams that he sees a sulam,

While a circlet of stones,

 Surrounds his head...

Then he leaps in a flash to Haran.

A shepherdess leads her sheep to a well,

And a man moves the rock with no bother,

He waters her flock,

 And kisses her there,

Says your father is my mother’s brother.

He works seven years but gets Leah instead,

Though it seems to him less than a week, 

The next thirteen years,

 Feel like twenty to him,

Till he bolts while Lavan is asleep.

Both time and space appear relative here,

To expand and to shrink on a whim,

Maybe to teach us,

 Truth, too, can be stretched,

And a lie can collapse from within.

Toldos

 בס״ד

Toldos

What is more important?

A birthright or a bracha?

Why would Esav spurn the one,

And cry about the other?

And Yaakov shows no interest,

In the bracha from his father,

He only goes to seek it,

On the urging of his mother.

In Rivka’s eyes he needed both,

To bring him to fruition,

Twinning ruchnius and gashmius

Was crucial to his mission,

The ruchnius is vital,

It’s the light that G-d reveals,

The gashmius essential,

It’s the vessel that conceals.

So the birthright he acquired,

Is to cast illumination,

And the bracha that’s bestowed,

The very kli that forms a nation.

Chayei Sara

 בס״ד

Chayei Sara

“ I will go”, is what Rivka answered them,

With little hesitation, she just left,

No thought of return…

Forever.

Prepared to go at the very first word,

Like a true daughter of Avraham,

To the place she will be…

Shown.

Aching to leave the home of Betuel,

Bearing the shards of kedusha,

 She had thus far…

Gathered.

To illuminate Yitzchok’s empty tent,

Left dark after Mother Sara,

Her rekindled light…

Glowing.

Little dreaming that a son yet unborn,

Would flee one day to Haran,

And there redeem the last two remaining…

Sparks.

Vayeira

 בס״ד

Vayeira

Three times in parshas Lech Lecha,

Avraham builds a mizbeach,

But he never denotes,

A sheep or a goat,

To bring near as a re’ach nicho’ach.

Why didn’t he offer up something before,

I wonder just what he was thinking,

But finally he’s shocked,

To learn that Yitzchok,

Is the korban he is to be bringing.

Still hidden from him is what G-d really wants,

Though he acts just as he was directed,

Despite bris mila’s seal,

Something’s still not revealed,

Avraham is as yet unperfected.

No sacrifice may have been suitable yet,

Until all of his klipos were gone,

Till the future he’d dreamed,

Went to dust, so it seemed,

Yet his faith in HaShem lingered on.

Lech Lecha

 בס״ד

Lech Lecha

From battle Avram came back home,

With Lot and all his kin,

He’d challenged 5 Kings in a war,

That no one thought he’d win.

He was welcomed back like royalty,

The King of Sodom praised his name,

Malchitzedek came and blessed him,

Who was Noach’s first son, Shem.

He was offered all the spoils,

But he turned them all aside,

He’d done only what he had to do,

There was no hint of pride.

Avram’s record wasn’t spotless,

He could not claim perfection,

But he lived a life of principle,

Today, he’d never win election.

He would only take advantage,

Of this chance to use his fame,

To bring “hamon goyim” to recognize,

The High One’s Holy Name.