Toldos

 בס״ד

Toldos

Without the dark, there is no light,

There is no day, but for the night,

Lacking silence, could one hear a voice?

If no evil, would there be a choice?

Yaakov grasping Esav’s heel,

An epic struggle there revealed,

If Yetzer Tov, by Rah be served,

A sacred balance is preserved.

And so it was from the very start,

Esav and Yaakov, at birth, must part,

Yet in each soul, another twin,

Lay cloaked, a conundrum, deep within.

Hidden sparks in Esav’s bones,

Of Shamaya and Avtalyon,

An ember, dim, of Rebbe Meir,

The Kedushas Levi says was there.

In Yaakov, kernels of Lavan,

Not to conquer, but improve upon,

In all of Yitzchok’s generations,

Seeds of ruin, and salvation.

Chayei Sarah

 בס״ד

Chayei Sarah

Had this field been ripe with grass

Of this, we’re never told

Or nourished flocks of bleating sheep

Shepherd beckoning to the fold

What worth this cave that dwells within

What secrets there unfold

Had some wanderer once sought shelter there

One stormy night, when the year was old

Approaching now with seasoned steps,

With foot like leather soled,

An aged man puts forth his hand, 

A deed of sale, behold

With humble reverence he lifted her

Her radiance shone, like gold

As he rested she in the cavern there

In the grotto, by the fold

Vayeira

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Vayeira

(l'ilui nishmas Avrum Weiss, zt"l)

Like Avraham, outside his tent,

He saw people standing over him,

Arising from his pain he sent,

His smiling face to welcome them.

Avraham served them as he’d offered,

Milk and lamb and wafers thin,

But this one, from within his coffers,

Serves words which nourish, from within.

Avraham helped them on their way,

As the Torah says a host should do,

But this one, he can but stay,

His love and laughter follow you.

Avraham’s angels came and went,

Each one charged with just one task,

What this one’s angels represent,

Is a question I am loath to ask.

Lech Lecha, Lech Lecha, Avraham, 

Lech Lecha, Avrum, my friend,

This world is filled with your ahavah,

Now bring joy to the heavens… amen.

Lech Lecha

 בס״ד

Lech Lecha

At thirteen Yishmael was circumcised,

along with his father Avraham,

a painful moment of rebirth shared,

unique between father and son.

What a visceral link that must have been,

but what this parsha leaves unexpressed,

is that Yishmael will be sent away,

Although, he too, will be blessed.

What is the nature of the covenant sealed,

with this “wild ass” of a nation,

a character trait that’s generously shared,

with each subsequent generation?