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It Is Time
It Is Time
Poetic notes for parashat Naso*
Action!
It is time to do a new work,
time to become new
It is time for Adam to take a new form,
the form of Abraham and his son
Death is dying
It is time to take action to prepare for new life,
just as the Creator of heaven and earth promised
in the covenant of his Divine Presence
He swore it in an oath to three fathers,
It was an oath with three roots,
but they are one tree,
This is the covenant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
It is time for humanity to take its adult form
In Abraham Hashem adjured all the families of the earth
He adjured them to be blessed
and not to oppress too much the son of Abraham
In Isaac Hashem whispered a promise
He whispered the promise of eternal love to come,
He whispered an unbreakable promise
to make the Land of Israel his home,
the eternal home on earth of Jerusalem Above
And to Jacob Hashem spoke heart to heart
And adjured him that he wrestle with love,
to master love with grace and with longsuffering faith
before settling his heel upon the land
Before he returns to rest on the mountain of the house of Hashem
We are still standing on our mountain in the south
We are watching the earth like one born on the moon
We are not ready to plant our mountain with both heels
into the land of redemption
We stand behind a dark steel fence,
like the robber who wears a mask,
peering through the lattice into the garden of Isaac’s love
To become eternal or not to become eternal
We now come up against the question
How do we exist?
It is not by our own magic or science
We exist by virtue of a glorious compassion
found deep in the word of God
In the midst of thunder the heart hears a whisper
The heart of faith hears a still and quiet voice
We are hearing the thunder
pounding against the world’s walls,
shaking the floor and ceiling of the earth
We hear the thundering Voice that says:
“Bring no gods with you out of Egypt,
to set them before my face!”
But what does Isaac’s whisper say,
the whisper that Jacob wrestles to hear?
The house of the eternal is your inheritance
Come, settle into the house of God!
Jerusalem Above is the home of Jerusalem on earth
It is meant to be your children’s home
God speaks lines between lines
God speaks promises with every commandment
What authority empowers your freewill?
Can you say it in a word?
Your freewill is not a private kingdom
It is shared with the freewill of God,
who shares it with all Creation
Creation itself does not live by one word alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God
Our souls have been numbered
Our spirits have already been counted
Apply yourself in full with youthful vigor
Lose yourself in learning
It is time to bring the lesson of history to an end
Say to Jerusalem
that her sins are forgiven
She has been corrected twice-over
for her youthful hutzpah
It is time to hear thunder like a whisper
It is time to serve no other god
Even the lame and handicapped
can make up for lost time
It is time to serve Hashem your God alone
Who brought Israel up
out of the throat of death,
out from the grinding wheel of fatal slavery,
toddlers and elders together
The princes of eternal life have not yet arrived
Hold their seats for them
They will soon be home
The Redemption is their house
Pray that they are not delayed
by the Abomination of Desolation
snaking its way up
onto the Temple Mount
Wherever you are now,
you twelve holy princes...
May the Lord bless you and keep you
May he lift up his face upon you
It is the day of the jealousy of the land
This is the hour of the jealousy of Hashem
The oath made to Abraham rules the world
The nations have fallen into a black pit,
a hidden rage of depression
We hid this truth from ourselves,
calling it industry and progress,
calling the energy of our spirit’s anger our comfort
We said we were taming the world,
domesticating Nature
Indeed, we have failed to honor Abraham
The poor and disabled we have not made victorious
Many orphans and many elder parents
have been left far behind
Conflict between neighbors
has now been made a commodity
Our spirit left craving love is consuming all things
Our city is become a city of death
But the three oaths of God tower above our city
For the sake of his oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
God will establish the work of our hands
Hashem is
The Creator and Redeemer of Israel is God
In his heart is eternal fondness for Ephraim
and you also he sees as Ephraim,
especially when you take in your hand
your sibling's hand of hope and seek Hashem
He wonderfully rewards those who diligently seek him
He will turn our war weapons into farm tools
and our farm tools he will turn into pruning hooks,
The trees in the orchard of life will be pruned in their season
God allowed the consequences of our actions
to become our enemy to destroy us
Then he became our defender and savior
Through the salvation of Israel God defends Adam
By defending Israel God saves all Creation
The God of Israel rebuilds our soul
His own soul revives the dead
and reanimates the corpse of love
From eternity to eternity you have received his gifts
And now he receives your gifts
His heart has accepted you even before you presented them
No worlds can come between you
You have been received before the King
Both you and your neighbour stand silently
in the Chamber of Grace before him
All the stars tremble
The worlds below your feet are drunk and falling
For Hashem has taken Jerusalem as his own
He has kept his three oaths
It is time to act for Hashem
He will harvest all goodness
His children will carry it up to Zion
Liars have been left to inherit cities of delusion
The serpent’s teeth are their bricks and mortar
They build walls of rage,
towers of venom against Hashem and against his Anointed
They are idolaters spreading plagues of corruption
The corruption of their conceit is a terminal cancer
Tell Jerusalem her warfare is accomplished
Her debt to the heavens impoverished her
Her debt to the earth broke her
But the light of the glory of her inheritance
has covered all her debt!
She has drank the waters of suffering
and she shall be called Mother of All Living
Jerusalem is pregnant with time
Her womb shall redeem time
And give birth to eternal children,
more than the stars of heaven
It is time to count
It is time to do the work, to prepare the world,
to prepare both citizens and rulers,
from all cultures, languages and nations,
to come and be seen in Jerusalem's grand banquet hall
It is time for the True Bride and Groom to be united,
to give birth to eternal loving-kindness
And to raise up all souls as children of righteousness
It is time for all the world's children to stand up straight,
face to face with God’s truth
on the stage that God’s word has chosen for them
It is time to come to Zion,
to the place of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
to the place where oaths are kept
And where vows are made that are never broken
There the Husband and Wife of Creation’s eternal life
will make their vows
And they will keep them
Attributions:
Attributions:
*Being for the 5783 version a mediation on parashah Naso, inspired in part by two Torah classes on this parashah and a Torah class entitled, Beyond Right, both presented by Rabbi Baitelman of Chabad of Richmond, B.C. Both classes were based on material from JLI. Neither Rabbi Baitelman nor JLI have reviewed or approved of the content of this post.
The original 5781 version arose from a meditation on commentary on parashah Naso, presented by by Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum of Azamra.com, together with comments on The Idra Rabbah by Zion Nefesh at The Daily Zohar. Neither Rabbi Greenbaum nor Zion Nefesh have reviewed or approved of the content of this post.
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