Beshalach, בְּשַׁלַּח. "When He Sent Out"  Exodus 13:17 - 17:16

Running And Returning

Poetic Notes on Parashat Beshalach  5783*

There is a city square in Jerusalem’s air, so fair

where the four corners of creation meet together

The four corners are encircled there

where the winds of Sabbath life are born

Listen to the word of God and hear the encircled square 

of God’s eternal Sabbath ringing

Hear there the steps of Elisha's horse resounding

Yes, hear this story of Elisha ben Abuya  

the teacher of the great Rabbi Meir

Elisha ben Abuya taught at the heights of Torah

and then he became apostate

Apostate though he was,

for the sake of the great Rabbi Meir, his student,

he wove a deed of honour, out of the golden threads of Torah

Once when he himself was mounted 

with Rabbi Meir, his student, walking at his horse’s side,

as they walked and talked together on the Sabbath Day,

Elisha silently counted his horses’ steps,

so that Rabbi Meir not go outside the techumª boundary of the Sabbath

Apostate Elisha quietly counted and measured the Sabbath boundary

By counting his horse’s steps he measured out to where the techumª was

Still, Elisha himself was measured and counted least among the sages

But deep n Rabbi Meir’s heart he was counted equal to the greatest

Long before, the children of Israel also counted and measured something else

They measured the manna

They counted the daily bread of heaven

Those who only gathered little had much

They had an abundance, like the fruit of the Garden of Eden

The Sabbath techumª is like a speeding chariot now coming to rest

The Sabbath is a chariot like a great eagle of God,

Her day is here, her stretching wings are now folding in

The measure of her wings is the measure of a Sabbath journey

Her wings like holy angels running and now gently returning,

are become like her arms now gently under you, 

like a mother with her infant

The Sabbath wings are warmly gathering you in

When Adam's children faithfully receive the bread of Heaven

and do not grasp for the manna coming from tomorrow’s tree,

they will find the door is open into Hashem’s Sabbath,

to lie down at last and rest with the Sabbath Herself,

in the luxury of God’s Living Room

where God unwraps the day,

 unwraps each and every day as though it were the world’s first

When the Seventh Day and Her techumª are still,

when they align like a wing and its wind,

then you don’t go out from her

and you don’t send her out

This time you don’t send her away

This time the heartbeats of Elisha ben Abuya, 

though he is himself now an outsider to the camp,

counts his horse's steps for his beloved Rabbi Meir,

in order that his beloved student

not step outside the span of the wings of the Shechinah

Look! The Sabbath is above

See! Her techumª wings are even now descending!

Your heart is resting with hers on the desert camp below

Your hope is filled with joy

Your feet dance with grace and peace

Inside of eternal Sabbath time your steps are resting

Like little children you sit down with the Torah

and learn how to live as a Godly mystery

Why would you wander outside?

Where is she coming from,

this infinitely beautiful Queen Sabbath?

Where is her place in the universe of Creation?

Where are her limits drawn for Her decent

and presence with the wandering womb of Jerusalem?

Moses knows

His trust in Hashem is only trust, pure trust

No alien hope can approach it to defile it

In the company of the Sabbath Queen

let your dreams be modest

Since you do not dishonor her external boundaries,

do not dishonor her internal boundaries

Rest with her awhile in the desert

Soon you must forever settle within her in cities

How do the Sabbath’s wings leave the wilderness?

How do the Sabbath’s wings enter the Land?

The faithful students of Moshe know

How long until the land is the Sabbath Land?

Already, for a moment, the future Sabbath fills creation,

like a mother’s loving hand rests upon her sleeping child

There is no Sabbath but Israel's Sabbath

The Sabbath of the desert has now settled upon the city

The Sabbath is the great and beautiful promise of Jerusalem

When you wake up and walk,

and like Rabbi Meir you won’t take a step

across the Sabbath boundaries of the city,

it is because she is there resting in that city

And she is resting in every heartbeat of even the apostate Jew

The Sabbath has moved into Creation

On those days that you do step out and go to work,

she still is there with her techumª wings concealed

Sufficient for every day of the week

is the promise, the spark, of the Sabbath within it

The Sabbath is the Beloved of every day of the week

and the days clean themselves up

and dress themselves the best that they can

in the hope of seeing her

All guests are dressed for the Banquet

All preparations have been made

No labor has been spared

The blessings, like holy sparks fallen from the eye of Hashem,

 are set on the Table without thought, of costs,

and without the first or the last deserving even

to smell their fragrance

These guests are your weekdays,

upon which you journey out,

like one who goes backwards in time

You go backwards into the week

The Divine Shechinah, accompanies you to the gate

She waits there for you to return to her

For you will come back to her

when your days are numbered

All have laboured and prepared,

and yet all remained in the dark

Not one soul expected the glory of the Banquet Table

You descend into Egypt and then come back to her,

to the Sabbath Garden

And Hashem Elohim said to the Adam,

“Of all the trees of the Garden you may freely eat…”

For the seeds of all the fruit

of all the trees of the Garden were Israel’s manna,

the food of Israel’s ultimate Sabbath table

With Moshe, seal the waters of the sea

Use the staff of the Sabbath ways

Find your faith through faith in Moshe

Step into the miracle

Seal the profane beneath the waters

Seal the armies of Pharaoh

within the red seas of blood in your veins

and extract and seal the holy sparks of your faith

to elevate them to Hashem’s waters above the waters

There is no ascent without there first being a decent

This is the covenant of Abraham’s hope

Cross the narrow bridge

There are tzaddikim who have gone before you

Gather in and prepare the Sabbath blessing

The Camp of the Sabbath is living through God’s covenant

Her wings rested over those who returned

after labouring in the field to repair the world

Her manna in the wilderness tasted to them like cream

She moved to rest upon the settlers who settled beneath her wings

How superior is the taste of the word of God to the soul,

over even the taste of the rewards of the labours of the field

Right now she rests on the settlements of the exiled

On day six, or day one, or in between,

you may be driven out from her

But the way to the Sabbath of the eighth day,

the only way, the private secret way,

is to return obediently to her again on the seventh day,

her permitted way,

to keep your rendezvous with her

Dwell inside the Settlement of the Seventh Day

Then, from there, go forward, world without end,

never leaving her again

The wings of her tecumª will infinitely spread

While the prayers of the tzaddikim bring Sabbath rain,

the rain of love from Hashem for Israel and His world,

which no thought has conceived

and no heart has imagined

The Sabbath morning brings the dew from the ground

with the manna of Hashem’s own Sabbath rest

Nimrod was an ox

an incorrigible goring ox

Abraham disowned any part in him

He would not take Nimrod with him

to God’s Redemption Land

In this way Abraham helped Shem

to put his house in order

This is the order of Melekizedek

The time which Israel hinted to the nations is come

For how long did Israel hint that there is no way to life

except through the seventh day?

Take hold of the fringes of the Sabbath Jew

What gaze is not off limits on the Sabbath evening?

The gaze that looks in faith beyond the fading night,

to that hour of the Sabbath light

That light itself is the evening of the eighth day

That day is now not far away

The glory of the nations

will come to Sabbath Israel in a flowing stream

From one Sabbath to another

From Adam’s Sabbath they departed

To Israel’s Sabbath they will return

The heart of Time itself,

the rhythmic beat at the heart of every moment,

is the dream of Sabbath Israel 

With a heavy hand the nations ran

They ran the Israelites to the ends of the earth

and would not let them go,

to keep the Sabbath with their God

Under Redemption’s wings,

with lightened hands,

the nations will return Israel’s children 

They will carry them as royal offspring 

to Jerusalem's Sabbath rest

There within the eternal Sabbath boundaries,

under the wings of the Sabbath techumª,

all the earth will worship Adonai

Truth will rise up from the ground,

from where it was cast down 

All the world will know Hashem 

All creation will walk

through Israel’s Sabbath doors

and sing prayers of praise to beautiful Israel's

blessed, holy God

For on the day of his work,

God has healed us eye to eye

And on his Sabbath Day

he will heal us face to face

and soul to soul

Do not seek to heal the material world

with your limited hand alone, as Adam did

Allow God’s infinite hand to rest upon your hand

and let her Sabbath wings rest between your eyes

and around your heart,

then move your little hand and repair the world

Then the day of love will come

Footnote:

ªtechum shabbat (Hebrew: תחום שבת, "Shabbat limit"), or simply techum, is a limited physical area in which a Jew is permitted to walk on foot on Shabbat and Jewish holidays.

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