בס״ד
Terumah/Shekalim
HaShem is all about giving
but for us that’s no simple maneuver
we’re enmeshed in a world of receiving
the antidote: “Take for Me terumah”
accept from His hands what he gives us
from his goodness a dwelling erect
be mekabel al m’nat l’hashpiah
in your eyes, just the “other” detect
בס״ד
Mishpatim
Who are these appointed judges,
Who have never been to law school?
How long to assimilate these mishpatim,
Delicate scales of justice calibrated.
These Mishpatim, not merely statutes,
But guidelines by which to emulate our Creator,
An impossible task, to reveal His singularity,
Where Ze’ir, din, and Anpin, chesed, are one. *
* שבת מלכתא, ג״:טז״ (ענייני סעודתא דזעיר אנפין)
בס״ד
Yisro
No yardstick was Pharaoh for Moshe,
Amram didn’t raise him at all,
no childhood shared with his brother,
no mentor with whom to play ball.
Nursed by Yocheved, by Basya raised,
safeguarded by Miriam, by Zipporah saved,
these righteous women supported him then,
but he had no good model of caring from men.
Husband and father, not showcased for him,
until Yisro the Kenite, of the Midianim,
so is explained the warmth of his greeting,
and why to him Moshe is listening and heeding.
But for his family, no welcome recorded,
no reunion, no family glow,
uninformed are we how they were greeted,
or perhaps he was not shown to know.
בס״ד
Beshalach
HaShem told Moshe “take this tree”,
And The Maker knows his botany,
Not the reddish-brown Mahogany,
But perhaps the Wild Drum-Stick Tree.
The waters of Marah, bitter as sea,
Could be sweetened using Drum-Stick seeds,
Moringa peregrina taxonomically,
It grows in the deserts of Arabee.
Moshe told them “this you gotta see”,
And you shall tell your progeny,
That this species (now found sparingly),
Is more miraculous than it appears to be.
It grows in parched aridity,
In the ecological vicinity,
Of thorn, orache, acacia tree,
And it’s secret was revealed to me.
It piqued this poet’s curiosity,
That such a barren desert oddity,
Might be what turned the bitter sweet,
As continued we our fate to meet.
