Haazinu/Shabbos Shuva

 בס״ד

Haazinu/Shabbos Shuva

They aren’t a nation, a kingdom, or state,

They aren’t a people, with tales to relate,

They are a non-people, as Moshe’s song spoke,

They’re living for nothing, except to provoke.

They insist they are victims, which isn’t untrue,

They prey on each other, and blame it on you,

The nations support them, they fan up the coals,

And yet this non-people builds nothing but holes.

They’d rather be tools of a nation that lies,

Than give up their tunnels, and look to the skies,

Make homes for their families, see to their health,

They choose to do nothing but squander their wealth.

Is this the non-people, of which Moshe warned,

Who’ll be sent to attack us, if Torah we scorned,

Return… return… HaShem calls to us now,

The secret is tshuva, I just don’t know how.

Rosh HaShanah

 בס״ד

Rosh HaShanah

I feel less like the rosh,

And more like the zanav,

Tied to the earth,

And remote from above.

This year full of klalah,

Has left me bereft,

My energy’s fading,

I have little left.

As I look at the world,

Where the evil take charge,

Their real numbers are few,

But their impact’s so large.

So here is the lesson,

I discern through the fog,

Even if I’m the tail,

I can still wag the dog.

Netzavim-Vayeilech

 בס״ד

Netzavim-Vayeilech

“adding the watered to the thirsty”

what an obscure turn of phrase

to describe willful sinning with

the expectation of forgiveness

thus losing His compassion

for even the unintentional

a malignant merger

like combining wool with linen, or

sowing with mixed seed, or

hitching an ox with a donkey

unlike salt

sodium and chlorine both toxic

until combined

or a minyan, in which

all of our prayers are elevated

by the righteous among us

the watered making a tikkun

for the thirsty

Ki Savo

 בס״ד

Ki Savo

Sometimes it may take 40 years

to understand what we’ve had

all along.

Like an esrog, forever ripening,

sun, rain, and earth, nurturing slowly

with each passing day.

Fraught with struggle, and joy,

bitter lessons, and stunning victories,

setbacks bringing not despair,

but wisdom.

Looking back as we look forward

we no longer await perfection

nor do we fear our flaws,

blemish indistinguishable from beauty,

like love and loss, they are one.

This precious seed, rooting and sprouting,

but never decaying, ever fresh,

always delving deeper into

the moist, warm, living soil,

which is the human heart.

Ki Seitze

 בס״ד

Ki Seitze

Most of the issues mentioned here,

Seem strange to my existence,

I know I’m meant to learn from them,

But I still need some assistance.

I never had a hated wife,

Nor a wayward and rebellious son,

Or placed a fence upon my roof,

Where the grain dries in the sun.

To me the essential lesson is,

As the Torah here bears witness,

That we’re not by nature virtuous,

We must accept our limits.

We’re all prone to justify,

Our actions, right or wrong,

So we must nurture self-awareness,

Or we won’t last too long.

Shoftim

 בס״ד

Shoftim

vengeance is permitted

the goel hadam

the redeemer of blood

for the sake of the land

how does blood remove blood

does the stain not grow larger

in the holy soil

wherein lies redemption

we are told that your eye shall not pity

life for life, eye for eye,

tooth for tooth,

hand for hand, foot for foot

whether pity is a trait of human nature

or a middah that is developed

can its voice be ignored

once acquired

shall we pity those committed 

to an unending crusade

against their own humanity

can innocent blood ever be redeemed