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.
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.
בס״ד
Yisro
A father-in-law’s unasked advice,
might not always be
well taken.
Yisro put himself in peril,
for he could have been
mistaken.
Was it for Zipporah’s benefit,
so her life would not be
shaken?
Had Moshe’s parents long since spoken,
and their sound advice
forsaken?
But he took the chance and said his piece,
it was judged a risk
worth takin’.
בס״ד
Beshalach
It’s not meant to be that we cross that Sea,
And leave it behind for good.
It seems we’re tossed upon that Deep,
Like flotsam, shards of wood.
Though Pharaoh’s army reaped the whirlwind,
They in the end were drowned.
We are blasted by eternal winds,
Sinking deeper in the Sound.
You raise Your right hand once again,
And then as if upon a whim,
You cast us into a Redder Sea,
To see if we sink or swim.
You planted us on shaky ground,
Yet like that fiddler on the roof,
We’re playing still the Piper’s tune,
Is that not sufficient proof?
בס״ד
Bo
Of all the unclean beasts and birds.
Just the donkey needs redemption,
A mother jenny’s firstborn foal,
Is the Torah’s sole exception.
Because Avraham and Moshe,
With their firstborns by their side,
Chose the plodding donkey,
To take “der kinder” for a ride?
Avraham leapt upon his donkey,
On his way to the akeida,
Moshe dashed for Egypt on one,
Delaying Gershom’s bris till later.
But Bilaam’s donkey had the vision,
That his master could not reach,
And was gifted ‘ere Creation,
With the aptitude for speech.
And since the donkey is medaber,
Although just that once it spoke,
Like our firstborn it needs pidyon,
Or else its neck is broke?
בס״ד
Vaera
Why wasn’t there a plague of snakes,
That slithered from their marshy brakes,
To bite and wound with poisoned fang,
Injecting fear in Pharaoh’s gang?
Why frogs and lice and wild beasts,
To interrupt their pagan feasts,
Common things that men don’t dread,
As much as cobra’s hooded head?
When Aaron and Moshe raised their staffs,
God could have lifted waves of asps,
To crash upon the Nile’s shore,
And Pharaoh would have begged, “No more”!
But slow and steady was the game,
As He, of whom they would not name,
Gave them time and lots of rope,
’Til, at the last, their firstborn smote.
בס״ד
Shemos
I was listening to Rabbi Y. Y.,
On the web the other day,
And I heard him speak of Moshe,
In a very different way.
Moshe knew his tafkid,
God had made it very clear,
But he questioned his potential,
He was overcome with fear.
Just as Yaakov, and then Yonah,
Had to wrestle with their path,
Moshe had to go to Egypt,
Or incur the Master’s wrath.
The milah resting at his feet,
“Bridegroom of blood”, Zipporah cried,
Now the kli had been restructured,
Transforming shefa now inside.
I have spent my whole life searching,
For a tafkid which is clear,
But if for sure I knew it,
I might first drink a beer.
