Shemini

 בס״ד

Shemini

For seven days the kohanim wait,

At the entrance to the mishkan,

For the dawn of morning number eight,

To bring close their final korban.

Bearing calves and sheep and bulls and rams,

Fine flour mixed with oil,

To the mishkan, rebuilt one last time,

Through Moshe’s sweat and toil.

 A fire coming from HaShem,

Consumes the final traces,

The people sing for joy, and then.

They fall upon their faces.

But, sadly, two of Aaron’s sons,

Nadav and Abihu,

Bring, unbidden, fire pans,

And they get roasted, too.

Shevi'i shel Pesach

 בס״ד

Shevi’i shel Pesach

Suf, the threshold between two realms,

One of darkness, one of light,

Some designated to cross on sanctified earth,

Untouched by foaming walls of tumah,

Others, simply swept away

Into the reeds.

There are those who tread on dry land,

For others, thick fingers of oozing, angry mud,

Resent their passage, unwheel them,

 “You shall not pass”, echoing,

Between raging waters of debris,

The discharge of slavery.

Shock and awe erupt from a jagged fissure,

A tidal wave of the redeemed,

Gushing from a fractured flint,

Inundating the pursuer.

Agape, from the eastern edge of the abyss,

They gaze, wordless, as Egypt drowns,

In its own inhumanity.

Tzav

 בס״ד

Tzav

Moshe lifts them, one by one,

Offerings upon their palms,

Aaron and his chosen sons,

As prayerful as a psalm.

I do not hear the Levites song,

In my mind, there’s not a sound,

No clamor from the silent throng,

Who wait to watch the turban wound.

At the פתח (pesach) of the ohel moed,

Seven days they must remain,

As they uplift korbanos, meat and bread,

Which lifts them, all the same.

Vayikra

 בס״ד

Vayikra

diaphragm, liver and kidneys

organs which separate above from below

and thresh seed from chaff

why with these are we makriv our shelamim?

are we, out of gratitude, pledging freely

to isolate from breath, and eliminate from blood

reckless speech and unfit thought

the dross of human nature?

not limbs nor hide, but only these, are cast

upon the mizbeach, and with kindred fats

their spirit ascends through a filtering fire

sifted, leaving only ashes behind

Pekudei

 בס״ד

Pekudei

“entrust”

a rendering of greater import

than reckonings or records

orderings or enumerations

the mishkan and all its kelim

a pikadon, a deposit

each particular

given in trust

as a guarantee

that He will indeed

dwell among us

if we safeguard His pledge

and thus preserve our faith

in each other

Vayakhel/Parah

 בס״ד

Vayakhel/Parah

In Ki Sisa, Shabbos is mentioned,

Only after the Mishkan’s details,

But Shabbos comes first in Vayakhel,

I’m wondering what this entails.

Chazal teach us several perspectives,

I’m sure I have not seen them all,

But looking at Kabbalos Shabbos,

Lecha Dodi sure runs with the ball.

Sof maaseh, b’machshavah techila,

Last created, but first in His thoughts,

So Shabbos is placed at the end of our week,

But it’s also the first thing God wrought.

The week is for building our mishkan,

With parentheses, beginning and end,

Which are Shabbos, the day of kedushah,

A gift from the mind of HaShem.

.

Ki Sisa

 בס״ד

Ki Sisa

The א comes first in א-dam and א-ron,

But they have more in common than this alone,

Give it some thought for just a minute,

Perhaps you’ll discover there’s something in it.

Chava speaks into Adam’s ears,

He eats the apple with no fears,

The people’s shouting Aaron hears,

Golden ringlets fall from ears.

Adam says, “it wasn’t me”,

That Chava should be fired,

“The people made me”, Aaron says,

An answer that’s less than inspired.

Mouths and ears can cause problems,

If they speak or hear without thought,

And admit your responsibility,

When you don’t do what you ought.

But if Aaron couldn’t fix Adam’s sin,

Does anyone have the ability?

They say that moshiach would have come,

But for lack of sagacious agility.