Ki Sisa

 בס״ד

Ki Sisa

There are no details to describe,

The mask that covered Moshe’s eyes,

When not teaching Yisroel,

Or learning Torah from HaKel.

Was it a mask like the Lone Ranger,

Or maybe something even stranger,

Was it dark or was it light,

Did it completely block his sight,

Or could he see with open eyes,

When he was wearing this disguise?

Of this mask, we never hear again,

No, not even now and then,

Perhaps because he would abstain,

From doing anything mundane?

Could it be his mask was never worn,

Of Torah’s glow not ever shorn,

As if in fact we’re being told,

No act for him was ever chol?

Tetzaveh

 בס״ד

Tetzave

The Torah tells us tales of brothers,

a saga of learning to love the other,

Who is above, and who below,

even with twins, it’s hard to know.

From Hevel and Kayin, to Moshe and Aaron,

will it be murder, or might it be caring?

One to be master, or leadership shared?

one who’s secure, and one who is scared?

But in the end two brothers meet,

and with expressions of affection greet,

Joint shepherds of a bleating nation,

a fitting tikkun for confrontation.

For amid the vestments and the oil,

craftsmen’s work and weavers’ toil,

A place for God is made below,

where brothers love to each bestow.

Terumah

 בס״ד

Terumah

The Luchos which were given -

I “shall” give you.

The details of the Mishkan -

I “will” make known.

Build a Mizbeach -

as you “were” instructed.

Form a Menorah -

as you “are” shown.

The words of parshas Terumah,

refer to future, present, past,

like HaShem, then, time is one,

and so the die is cast.

For this eternal people,

with which a covenant is sealed,

revelations are not locked in time,

they are endlessly revealed.

Mishpatim

 בס״ד

Mishpatim

Do not think that we are meant to dwell

in heavenly realms of cloud and fire.

An elevated existence is not obtained

simply through exalted principles,

but through everyday words and actions.

Fifty three mishpatim,

rooted in ten utterances,

like icy spring water flowing from

a luminous pinnacle,

splashing us awake from our dream.

As such do we define ourselves,

and become Bnei Yisroel,

distinct from those who hold that

faith alone 

or abject submission

redeems.