Vayera

 בס״ד


Vayera


What was this fire Avraham carried,

Was it just a flinty rock?

Or an ember from a living flame,

Preserved in a fire pot? 


Did the fire pot preserve a coal,

From that furnace in Ur Kasdim,

The one where Avraham proved himself,

By entering therein?


Or from the roasting fire,

Upon which lamb was cooked for angels,

And served to those who do not eat,

Kept alight, like Sarah’s candle?


Carried now to Har Moriah,

Son and father to be tested,

Will emunah sh’b’gevurah,

Be as strong as that of chesed?


Suspended from a chain or such,

Was this Ner Tamid ushered south,

To ignite, perhaps, a burning bush,

Or singe young Moshe’s mouth?


Or to rekindle a menorah,

That had been much abused,

This spark, this lasting remnant,

Of the holy Ohr Ganuz? 




Lech Lecha

 בס״ד



Lech Lecha


Avram and Sarai left Haran,

With just God’s word to count upon,

They went on shlichus, one could say,

And knew they’d have to pay their way.


To set up shop somewhere unknown,

A place they felt they would be shown,

To bring the message God is One,

To mothers, fathers, daughters, sons.


To care for them, and feel their pain,

Shelter them from sun and rain,

Teach them niggunim and songs,

Laugh with them and keep them strong.


Far from home and all their kin,

This Rabbi and this Rebbitzin,

With love and joy they served their God,

I think they must have been Chabad.




Noach

 בס״ד



Noach


Emerging from within the cloud

Of black and white and grey

The keshet shed her darkened shroud

A spectrum to display


A refracted arc of every shade

From red to green to violet

Water-colored crystals sprayed

As mist from a prismed palette



 
Moshe Chaim Jaffee, age 5

Bereishis

 בס״ד




Bereishis

א:כ״ו


Shall he rule over the beast,

Or shall the beast rule over him?

As Rashi explains v’yirdu (וירדו)


From the very Beginning

Light and Dark

Day and Night

Bracha and Klalah

all twins of the same mother


And we again

must choose




Shemini Atzeres/Simchas Torah/Shabbos

 בס״ד





Shemini Atzeres/Simchas Torah/Shabbos


Like the arba minim, which were unbound,

Before we took up our hoshannahs,

Zos HaBracha mustn’t be tied down,

It blesses every parsha.


The shechina rejoices one last time,

Before her presence appears to lessen,

Simchas Torah, a day sublime, 

The shalosh seudos of chodesh seven.






Acharei Mos