Shoftim

 בס״ד

Shoftim

A righteous judge is a tree that bears fruit,

Since justice is what he pursues,

He tends it with care and shields it from harm,

From actions he knows are untrue.

A man is compared to a tree of the field,

If to tzidkus is what he aspires,

No swing of an axe can e’re bring him down,

His fruit will ascend ever higher.

Sustaining are trees that bear forth the truth -

 If in foreign field one should flourish,

The angels themselves have planted it there,

From its fruit you shall surely be nourished.

Re'eh

 בס״ד

Re’eh

Two opposite mountains,

From which could be heard,

The words the Levi’im would utter.

Two opposite ways,

To respond to those words,

With reverence, or with a mutter.

Did the Bnei Levi give over for real,

All the words that we read in the parsha?

And precede each pronouncement,

From the valley below,

With the preface of klalah or bracha?

Or was it the people, 

 Who heard in their minds,

On the slopes of the mountains,

Just mentioned,

The message that they were inclined to receive,

Depending upon their perception?

 

Eikev

בס״ד

Eikev

A Law,

And a Land,

And a People…

Connected.

Of 

All three,

Together,

Is your Future…

Erected.

V'eschanan

 בס״ד

V’eschanan

Moshe says twice that it’s really our fault,

He’s forbidden to enter the land,

It’s strange that he lays all the blame upon us,

For this Onesh is from his own hand.

One moment of anger was all that it took,

His patience had served him so well,

But it seems that the blame also falls upon us,

Who drove him so hard that he fell.

Devarim

 בס״ד

Devarim

Words - they last forever,

Once they leave a mouth or pen,

Rippling on through time untold,

Not to be reeled in again.

Through Moshe, dibur is restored,

Though he’s difficult of speech,

His da’as the voice behind his words,

His vision beyond our reach.

The Torah that he teaches now,

Starts out as toh-cha-cha,

With hints, to learn from what has been,

To tease out the hash-ga-cha.

So he chooses every word with care,

But of all the things he said,

Why is it that we need to know,

Og had an iron bed?

Maaseh

 בס״ד

Maaseh

It’s time that we look back upon,

The places where we’ve been,

The lessons that we’ve learned from them,

The sparks that hid therein.

First we came to Midbar Sin,

Then reached Midbar Sin-ai,

And the journey ends in Midbar Tzin,

They sound similar, but why?

Does each wilderness have what to teach,

From a slightly different frame?

Or is it we who’ve been transformed,

So the message seems to change?

Mattos

 בס״ד

Mattos

It’s payback time for Midian,

This is Moshe’s curtain call,

Though they’re of the blood of Yisro,

It is by the sword they’ll fall.

We spared the young men and the women,

Then were rebuked for this mistake,

Which echoes down to King Shaul,

In Israel’s war with Amalek.

Did Zipporah live to see this,

A Midian-ess by birth?

Or was she spared this final grief,

And rested in the earth?