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It Is Time
It Is Time
Poetic notes for parashat Naso*
It is time for action!
It is time to go to work!
It is time to take a new form,
the original form meant for Adam,
the form of Abraham’s covenant promise,
It is time to take an adult form
But we are still standing on the mountain,
not ready to bring the mountain with both feet
into the land of redemption
We are still watching the earth from the moon,
as if we were standing behind a dark steel fence
As if we were behind a chainlink fence of mazel rule,
we are acting like day-workers without power,
not knowing for whom
we should go to work today
But we do know
We know full well who our Master is
We know whose spirit gives us breath
Who keeps our souls ever seeking life
It is not by magic or science that we exist
but by the compassion deep in the word of God
We’re hearing the thunder
pounding against the world’s walls,
shaking its floor and ceiling
We hear the thundering Voice that says:
Bring no gods with you out of Egypt,
to set them before my face!
The house of the Eternal is now your house
Settle into the house of God!
It is meant to be your home
It is meant to be your children’s home
God speaks in lines and between the lines
Humanity does not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God
Humanity does not live by personal free will alone,
but by a free will that is inseparable from the word of God
What authority empowers free will?
Truly free will is empowered by the words
that come from the mouth of God
You who insist that you have been given
an independent and private free will,
the autonomous right and power
to choose everything in life on your own,
the free will to live the life you personally want,
to build the life, the world, you will
Go ahead,
imagine a world that is created just by you,
just by your unrestrained individual free will
Imagine it well, do the work
Imagine the world you want
in whole and in every detailed part
Work hard at it
It is your choice
You will be living in it forever
Unless you repent together with Torah Israel
and are saved from the world
that your isolated, misconceived free will created
Unless you receive again that free will
that Adam was created with, that is inseparable
from 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 vigour
Loose yourself in learning,
like you were in your private study
No necessity even for public formality
Even the lame and handicapped
can make up for lost time
Say to Jerusalem
that her sins are forgiven
She has been corrected twice-over
for her immodesty
It is time
It is time to serve no other god
It is time to serve HaShem your God alone
Who brought you up
out of the throat of death,
out from the grinding wheel of fatal slavery,
toddlers and elders together
The princes have not yet arrived
Hold their seats for them
They will soon be home
The redeemed life is in their own house
Pray that they are not delayed
by the Abomination of Desolation
snaking its way up
onto the Temple Mount
Wherever you are,
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 jealousy of HaShem
For, indeed, we have failed
We have fallen into a black pit,
a hidden rage of depression
We hid it from ourselves,
calling it industry and comfort
the taming of our world,
the domesticating of nature
The poor and disabled we have not made victorious
Many orphans and many elder parents
have been left far behind
Conflict between neighbours
has been made a commodity
Warfare in families and between generations
has been cultivated and grown
and has turned a profit
Our spirit is left craving love and consuming all things
We said, Let us build a city on the principle of what is right
But it became the city of death
Yet the goodness of God toward us is greater than this
His love will see no fault in our mitzvot
He will even establish the works of our hands
HaShem is
The creator and redeemer of Israel
wonderfully rewards those who diligently seek him
He will turn our swords into plowshares
and our plowshares he will turn into pruning hooks,
to prune the trees in the orchard of life in their season
God’s goodness toward us is greater than our failures
He lets the consequences of our own actions
become our enemy to destroy us
And when we are destroyed he rebuilds our soul
His own soul reanimates our hearts in love
From eternity until eternity,
as you have received his gifts,
he has received your gifts
His heart has accepted them even before you give them
No worlds can come between you
All the stars tremble
All worlds below are drunk and falling
For HaShem, God of Israel
has taken Jerusalem for his own
HaShem will redeem all human goodness
and gather it up and bring it to Zion
All human goodness shall become desire
to worship and serve HaShem there
Liars will inherit cities of delusion
Their rage builds walls
Their lies build walls
against HaShem and against his Anointed
Idolators serve gods of exponentially increasing corruption,
like cancer the conceit of corruption consumes the world
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!
She has drank the waters of suffering
and she shall be called Mother of All Living
Jerusalem is pregnant with time
She shall redeem time
with a new and final birth
as the infant child of the Eternal's love
For us, therefore,
It is time
It is time to count
It is time to do the work and prepare the world,
to prepare both citizens and rulers,
from all cultures, languages and nations,
to come and be seen in Jerusalem's ultimate banquet hall
It is time for the True Husband and Wife,
who give birth to eternal lovingkindness and righteousness,
to stand up straight, face to face
on the stage that God’s word has chosen for them
upon the earth where they made their vows
For in the place where they freely made their vows
they will keep them
Attributions:
Attributions:
*Being for the 5782 version a mediation on parashah Naso, inspired in part by a Torah class 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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