Shemot, שְׁמוֹת "Names" Exodus. 1:1 - 6:1

Moses and Elijah 5783

Poetic notes on Shemot*

The arrow of time is the arrow of redemption

The arrow of time is not an arrow shot

to bring creation to eternal destruction

Yet not one moment passes without being fractured

And still, not one moment passes without being repaired,

Every moment is repaired

But each moment is repaired

only through the power of the coming redemption

Not one moment passes that does not arise and exist

from the power of the Mercy Seat above the Ark of the Covenant of God,

his covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah

It was mercy that withheld a sword at Moshe's throat

Mercy revealed its power to Moshe

in order that he would quickly circumcise his son

Some have said,

(indeed, the flaming sword and the spiritual famine have said:)

“What God desires most is that we believe in Him

and keep His commandments”

Yet God’s own whisper has said,

(indeed, the approaching redemption of Israel has said:)

What God desires most

is to show us His love,

in order that it might be through the revelation of His love,

that we believe in Him and keep His commandments

What is Adam that you think about them?

What is the Son of Adam that you visit him?

In order to be ourselves we must receive instruction

We must receive the instruction of God our Father

We must receive it in order to do it

We must know the love of God and show it to others

Only then is it possible for us to be ourselves

Only then will we not do and be

what the king of Egypt says for us to do and be

Only then will we not kill Jerusalem's boys

We will not throw Jewish boys in the river

All Israel will be the faithful handmaiden of God

All Israel will lay down her life to lift up the life of Moses

The highest hight of life is reached only from the grave

Elijah the prophet,

who reveals the perfect way,

will sit with those at the broken table

There on that broken stone table

he will light the candle that turns the night to meet the day

Whose soul is the candle that Elijah will light?

It is the man, the woman, the child who holds HaShem's hand

It is the stranger in the strange land

It was Moses the stranger who said,

“Let my people go!”

God's firstborn went out

Like a cripple who took hold of the Hand of Hashem

Israel rose up and went out

and ascended to the holy gates of light above

Israel, God’s firstborn when out

from the dark prison land of Osiris below

But the gates of light to them were blinding!

Their eyes had been enslaved

in fifty levels of darkness

How should those who had been blind for so long

suddenly walk in brilliant light?

They faced the fifty blinding gates of Jerusalem

Beams of light shown through her walls

to each of Israel’s twelve tribes

How should they enter in?

The gentle guide of the blind viewed the land from afar

He stood on the other side of the river,

although the gate key was in his hand

In his hand was the Torah key that eluded Adam

He gave the key to the children of his children

“Holy, Holy, Holy,” the fiery voices sang!

The key holders shrank back,

but never turned and ran

Moses like Jacob would die outside the land,

pleading always with God

to allow him to lead Israel to the mountain of resurrection

Moses refused from the beginning

to lead them only from exile to exile

but Moses also, like all of Levi, heard Jacob say,

The sceptre shall not depart from Judah,

nor the children of the Torah from his feet

until Mashiach comes;

all the children will gather to him

The nation will stand eye to eye in Jerusalem with him

For Elijah will teach them to mend the broken table,

and he will nurse the weeping eye,

like a nurse who bends down with love to revive the dying

When the child has mastered the lesson,

G-d will remove even the shadow of fear from the child’s eye

Abraham will embrace Moshe in Hebron

They will play together with their grandchildren in Jerusalem

For the redemption of Adam will come

from Mashiach’s holy land