Masei / Prepare For The Third Day
Prepare For The Third Day
Poetic notes on the parashat Masei *
(while looking back into parashah Matot)
G-d told Moshe:
"Prepare for the third day"
It will carry you
on the forty-two journeys
along your way
There is a way that seems right
but it leads to the second way
the way of death
Then there is the third way
that changes death into life
On the third day
Moshe received the third way
Walk with the tsitsit of Torah
through the standing waves
Neither death nor Jordan waters
will defeat you
Come see the sounds
and hear the sights!
Come enter the Land of Shavuot!
Every tribe of Israel
is a keeper of prayer
Every tribe of the earth
is put in their care
Each boundary they frame
reveals G-d's name
Come into the grand city of refuge
There is an eastside and a westside
A place on either side of the gate for you
This is the gate of the third way
The twelve gates built on the third day
Bring your broken hearted
and your shattered ones
Bring your children who were stolen
Bring your elders who were cast aside
and your failed groom and your lonely bride
Come to the grand city of refuge
There is healing there
An angel of hope will lead you there
A daughter of Zion will be your nurse
*Incorporating reflections on an article by Rabbi Tvi Freeman on 3,333 Years Since the Ten Commandments.