Chayei Sarah

בס״ד 

Chayei Sarah

“Well, well, well, three holes in the ground”,

As the old expression goes.

One might think a well is just a hole,

From which fresh water flows.

But Hagar dovened at a well,

And her prayer was answered, we see,

And Yitzchok, too, goes there to pray,

At the well Be’er-Lechai-Roi.

Eliezer’s prayer is answered, too,

At that well in Aram Naharaim,

When Rivkah draws waters of chesed,

From a spring that is full of mayim.

Now, water is the source of life,

For everything that grows,

And mayim rhymes with chayim,

As everybody knows.

So when, perchance, your path is dark,

Doubts clouding your einayim,

Seek vision from the Font of light,

From Whom flows mayim chayim.

Vayeira

בס״ד 

Vayeira

One kindness requested by

Avraham our Father,

When he left Haran,

From Sarah our Mother:

That wherever HaShem

Should send us to wander,

Tell everyone there 

We are sister and brother.

Could it be that the reason

Was in order to test,

Which people or nation 

Was the worst or the best,

When it comes to regard

For the One who’s above,

And has yirah in balance 

With the middah of love?

Only Pharoah of Egypt 

And Avimelech of Gerar,

Failed in this challenge,

And took ahavah too far.

And this speaks very well 

For the rest of humanity,

Whose yirat Shamayim 

Restrained such profanity.

Lech Lecha

בס״ד 

Lech Lecha

Avram’s journeys may seem aimless,

Nothing seems to go as planned,

But for his Children to inherit,

He must tread the entire Land.

He started out in Haran,

Then to Shechem, Beit El and Ai,

And then way down to Egypt,

Where he almost lost Sarai.

Then he headed back up to the South,

Lot preferred the fertile plains.

Avram rescued Lot way up in Dan,

And took nothing for his pains.

He strode along from East to West,

From North to South and back,

We trace his steps on Derech HaAvot,

Along that well-worn track.

Noach

בס״ד 

Noach

Eretz is the Adamah,

She brought forth a different tree.

Adam is from Adamah,

His fall was from the tree.

Noach is Ish HaAdamah,

His fall was from the vine.

Dor HaMabul corrupts the Adamah,

Their fall was from being unkind.

Dor HaFlaga makes bricks from Adamah,

Their fall was from worshipping self.

All because Eretz thought she could de better,

Than the Creator of the Universe Himself.

Bereishis

בס״ד 

Bereishis

Knowledge itself is no virtue,

Like breath, it has nothing inherent,

Discernment has many voices,

The pattern growing slowly apparent.

Don’t be fooled into thinking you’re ripe for the fruit,

And impatient, heed counsel nefarious,

Because you are a garden to be tended with care,

And the search for wisdom, precarious.

V'Zos HaBracha

בס״ד 

V’Zos HaBracha

Moshe doesn’t get to reach,

The goal he had intended,

He gets as far as Har Nevo,

And there his life is ended.

But he looks ahead to where the Tribes

Of Israel will ascend,

Knowing they’ll attain what he could not,

But that won’t be the end.

In every dor we parents 

Guide our children to the path,

To carry on where we leave off,

Short of our goals, at the last.

Each year reborn to start anew,

As the Torah circles round,

Centermost, yet beyond our reach…

The dance is where we’re found.

Haazinu

בס״ד

 Haazinu

Could it be that this Song,

Sung by Moshe Rabbeinu,

Is the vision withheld

From Yaakov Avinu?

Past, Present, and Future,

In a Shir with no rhyme,

And revealed here at last,

At a more favorable time?

In the ears of a People,

From servitude saved,

Instead of 12 brothers,

Bound to be slaves?

And what other Nation,

Shown the future this way,

Would be stiff-necked enough,

To choose life anyway?