Tetzaveh, תְּצַוֶּה "You Shall Command" Exodus 27:20 - 30:10

Tetzaveh and Purim 5783

Poetic notes on parashat Tetzaveh and on Purim*

Twelve precious souls,

each of them a corporate soul

All twelve of them precious living gemstones,

like veins of life mined from the earth

All twelve of them were vessels of the Torah,

branching out like vines of gemstone light

These twelve stones were laid upon the Anointed One’s heart

Indeed, they were pulsing veins of light 

grown from the Shechinah’s glory

They were living vines, 

wrapping with lovingkindness around the right arm

And their light was shining across the whole body

to the disciplined sinews of the left arm

All twelve were speaking to the compassion of the heart,

stirring the compassion of the Anointed One,

like pulsing gemstones of love resting upon his chest 

These were the twelve corporate souls

of the twelve tribes of Israel

And the Shechinah herself also

was like a twelve starred crown for the Anointed One,

resting there like a Torah camp of Godly attributes,

like a tefillin square between the eyes,

like a tzitz upon the Anointed One’s forehead

And he, the Anointed One, through obedient knowledge,

was taking away the sin of the holy things

The twelve luminous souls were wrapping and embracing him,

and he was erasing from the whole body 

the imprint of self-centred souls,

those souls, which even in ignorant innocence, 

are created from sins

The ways of ignorance and sins are old and hobbled ways

They are old ways which must be evaluated,

which must be elevated,

by gemstone-fire upon the altar

They must rise up in smoke by compassion burning in the heart,

the heart of an anointed one and of a penitent one

What is the eternal birthday of Moshe?

This is an inheritance of an anointed Aaron,

like the burning heart of Esther’s sacrifice,

like the gemstone-flame of Mordecai’s courage,

from evening to morning,

a daily sacrifice,

turning Haman and his scheme inside out and upside down

That inner and outer revolution is the door into heaven

into the new eternal ways,

the gentle, compassionate ways,

the ways of learning the Word, the Torah, of G‑d

These ways are the becoming ways of the Jewish soul

The Jewish soul is becoming the new soul of Adam

What is a Jewish soul?

The soul which is embodied by faith, 

faith in action,

faith that is everywhere becoming,

which is everywhere descending in the Shechinah’s light,

It is purity becoming and it can never become impure

When the Moshiach of Israel is revealed it will be known

and it will be understood well in all the earth

The intellect in the deepest depths of the Jewish soul

is elevated only with humility,

like an open altar-flame, it ascends to G‑d

And why is the Jewish soul

the soul of faith in the one G‑d?

And why is the Jewish soul the becoming soul?

Because G‑d gave birth to it from above….

Therefore the Garden of Eden Earth,

in the eternity above the old times,

is the Garden of Jewish Souls

“If you go according to My statutes

and keep My commandments…

the earth will give forth its produce

and the trees of the field its fruit”

Then your heart will see Eden Earth with joy,

with its seed source the Rose of Sharon

Step back and ask yourself,

How did the first muddy soul

become a heavenly soul?

How did the single opportunistic soul,

the soul at first half-created,

which later wandering from the garden,

how did this lost soul

become the married Jewish soul?

See! Behold! A wondrous vision!

A vision more comforting than Noah’s rainbow

A world turned inside out

and upside down!

He cast the truth down to the ground

The enemy thought it was he who had done this, 

he cast truth to the ground 

That was that one thing he was most proud of doing

But no, the truth buried herself in the ground

And out of the ground she became the Mother of All Living,

the resurrection mother

Just as the name of Moshe

was for a moment concealed,

so the truth was for a moment concealed

A just and righteous offering was made

A testimony was received in the court of heaven

The Jewish soul had at first been stammering of speech,

but now testified with eloquence from the witness stand

Behold! the married soul is the redeemed soul!

The Jewish soul,

is the forgiven soul, the exiled and redeemed soul

Like a daughter of God 

she suddenly appears facing east in the shul

She appears as if from nowhere through the prayer

of the hidden Tzaddik,

generated through a spark found in Abraham,

a spark redeemed for the sake of his anointed son

Look now to the Anointed One

and to the twelve gemstones on his breast!

It is the corporate Moshe soul,

even the Anointed One’s Moshe soul

It is the twelve tribes of Esther’s heart, 

the soul of Adam’s hope,

the soul embedded in and emanating from 

the two tablets of heaven and earth