Tzav/Parah

 בס״ד

Tzav/Parah

The kohanim, at their inauguration.

Offer flour for their consecration,

Boiled, then baked, then fried into buns,

Thus did Aaron and his sons. 

But bun is not the proper label,

It sounds to me more like a bagel,

In scorching oil let it float,

Voila! We have sufganiot!

Is this a hint to Chanukah,

And the minhag of sufganiya,

Or a reference to the chait ha’egel,

A golden crust upon the bagel?

If so, there’s something missing please,

A slice of lox, a shmeer cream cheese,

A bit of onion, a little heatin’,

Now you’ve got some real good eatin’.

I would surely be in awe,

If some Navi ever saw,

In the cakes of Aaron and his sons,

Those Sunday breakfasts yet to come.

Vayikra

 בס״ד

Vayikra

Upon the sacrificial lamb,

two hands rest,

with a sense of regret, 

for that act, and this.

Sanctifying through touch,

and with bracha,

like waving the Kohain,

or blessing the children.

Warmth, tangible as breath,

a fluttering of life,

each padded finger caressing,

every woolen curl.

Between penitent and korban,

at this poignant, tactile moment,

a shimmer of no substance,

 passes.

A tear is shed,

anointed now is the emissary,

the shaliach, bearing away error,

like the shearing off of fleece.

Pekudei

 בס״ד

Pekudei

Oholiav, of the tribe of Dan,

Master craftsman of his clan,

Whose skills were honed in slavery,

Embroiderer of captivity.

Turquoise, purple, scarlet wools,

He fashioned with his stitching tools,

With linen too he plied his trade,

He wove, and carved, as he was bade.

With blade and needle, looms and hoops,

He’d served those Mitzri nincompoops,

Now liberated, with love he tackled,

Adornment of the Tabernacle.

In joy, his craft he now applied,

To cloth and hair and wood and hide,

And all the fabric they had spun,

Did Oholiav, Achisamach’s son.

Vayakhel/Shekalim

 בס״ד

Vayakhel/Shekalim

All the people came together,

When Moshe finished his descent,

In a way that we had never seen,

Since the day that Moshe went.

Just like a master craftsman,

He restored them piece by piece,

And the people’s hearts were opened,

Their donations never ceased.

Each instruction they performed,

Down to every jot and tittle,

No tiny detail altered,

Not even just a little.

Some say the Beit HaMikdash,

Will re-descend when He desires,

But with people, like the Mishkan,

Some assembly is required.

Ki Sisa

 בס״ד

Ki Sisa

There are no details to describe,

The mask that covered Moshe’s eyes,

When not teaching Yisroel,

Or learning Torah from HaKel.

Was it a mask like the Lone Ranger,

Or maybe something even stranger,

Was it dark or was it light,

Did it completely block his sight,

Or could he see with open eyes,

When he was wearing this disguise?

Of this mask, we never hear again,

No, not even now and then,

Perhaps because he would abstain,

From doing anything mundane?

Could it be his mask was never worn,

Of Torah’s glow not ever shorn,

As if in fact we’re being told,

No act for him was ever chol?

Tetzaveh

 בס״ד

Tetzave

The Torah tells us tales of brothers,

a saga of learning to love the other,

Who is above, and who below,

even with twins, it’s hard to know.

From Hevel and Kayin, to Moshe and Aaron,

will it be murder, or might it be caring?

One to be master, or leadership shared?

one who’s secure, and one who is scared?

But in the end two brothers meet,

and with expressions of affection greet,

Joint shepherds of a bleating nation,

a fitting tikkun for confrontation.

For amid the vestments and the oil,

craftsmen’s work and weavers’ toil,

A place for God is made below,

where brothers love to each bestow.

Terumah

 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.