Shemini, שְּׁמִינִי "Eighth" Leviticus 9:1-11:47

The Eighth Day, Passover and The Red Heifer

Poetic notes on Parashat Shemini*

The eighth day comes in a blink of an eye

The eternal Sabbath light becomes the sky

when Hashem enters his Temple

With grace and kindness God said, Let there be light

And there was one day

That one day is the Sabbath seed,

a planted field indeed, 

a motherland, 

with a whole creation to feed

When the Sabbath field was young

and by the word of God was spun,

the seventh day was a spinning yod

with the eighth day a wheel circling round,

the wheel that has no other end

than to be the one beginning

This is the day when sacrifice is consumed 

Satisfaction rests in mercy and joy

On Sabbath’s Eve unholy time is finally finished

In the privacy of the Sabbath holy time is conceived

On the eighth day holy time is born forever new,

its children wrapped in the first light’s linen, 

wrappings of faith,

shawls of Torah and robes of prayer,

World Without End, Amen

The eighth day comes!

In the blink of an eye it comes,

like the wings of Moshe beating,

the wings of Elijah reaching,

the wings of Mashiach dancing around Jerusalem,

covering his people,

carrying Israel from every exile

Moses learned the Torah of the baal teshuvah*

Aaron learned the Torah of Adam’s sorrow

Every soul of Adam now has its root

only in the Jewish soul

Every stirring of every thought is quickened 

only by the fire of the love of Israel’s God

On the eighth day

every knowing is a knowing of Israel’s God

On the eighth day all is rectified

and the world exists in flowing waves of joy

Every heart beats in time to the beating

of Mashiach’s eagle wings

Every tongue and every ear is tuned

to Mashiach’s every Torah word,

to the sound of every Torah letter

The eighth day comes….

In the blink of an eye it comes

Every note of the Eighth day is a Temple song,

fallen sparks gathered into holy notes

of Godly melodies,

accompanied by the Temple’s strings of light 

and rays of music

Could they be heard in the moment of unholy time,

they would deafen the world like eternal thunder

and blind the world like an infinite harmonic lightening! 

If played on a mere six or seven string harp,

or radiated from the seven day Temple,

we should be but would not be found worthy

Hear, then, the gentle sound of the Eighth Day

the sound reflecting from the bubbling brook of life,

a music carrying to you the God-touched water of life,

the water springing from the Eighth Day Temple

The Seventh day was the evening of repentance

and the morning of life from the dead

The Sabbath became the sun of righteousness

rising as the Eighth Day

All the world is found in the human eye,

like it is found in one Red Heifer

In the blink of a human eye

the world is turned inside out and upside down

All that was high is become low

All that was low is become high,

“Hashem raises the poor from the dust 

and lifts the needy from the ash heap;

he seats them as princes

and has them inherit a throne of honor 

For the foundations of the earth are Hashem’s; 

on them he has set the world”

On the eighth day

all that was degenerating is made incorruptible,

Mortality is made immortality

The unholy is made holy

The eighth day shall come

and the earthly soul shall not recognize itself

on account of its heavenly glory

The reborn universe shall meet its God

and every fallen soul shall stand up again

They shall rise through a sentence spoken by God

All souls of Israel shall be like an ear

that shall hear the sentence of mercy for Adam;

the sentence shall declare that every soul 

is born of Sarah and born of Rebecca,

counted in Rachel

and numbered in Leah

After the Passover Sabbath all who are counted 

shall begin to count the days

until the Torah of Moshe and Mashiach is given

on the mountain of Jerusalem

On the Eighth day this shall forever come

And in the blink of an eye

all shall have been consumed by the fire of God

Israel shall be a fire

And Jerusalem shall be an altar of redemption

And the redeemed of Hashem

will sing the whole Song of the Torah,

the song of everlasting thankfulness and prayer

Every master of Torah will be a choir master

Every child of Torah will tell stories for songs

They will tell stories of long ago,

when the first heavens were just formed

and the foundations of earth were just laid

and the souls of Israel were conceived

beneath the wings of the Shechinah,

through the spirit of Mashiach,

upon the face of the waters of life and death,

Adam and Eve will sit once again beneath the Tree of Life,

with David and all the little children telling holy stories

All the worlds shall sit beneath the Tree of Life

to hear the masters of Torah singing

and the children of Torah telling stories

And God shall dwell in their midst

and quietly listen to his children

And the heart of Hashem 

will warm all worlds with love

*baal teshuvah  - “master of return”, the truly repentant person