Va'etchanan, וָאֶתְחַנַּן "And I Pleaded"  Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11

And He Prayed

A poetic meditation on the parashat Va'etchanan*

Attune your ear, oh Israel!

Let your soul listen

Moses passed over

the Jordan River above you

You will do the same

The Land of Israel itself

and then the whole earth itself

must cross over the Jordan

and enter the Land of Israel 

The below must unite with the above

to become the land where time has no sway

where a thousand years is a day

Apply your soul to the work

You must blaze the path for angels

See your sins and transgressions

rolled back like walls of water

The holy ground is cleared

The Ark cuts a path of teshuvah

for you to walk right through

Who’s voice will be heard to sing

in the quorum of the Jewish soul?

Who’s voice will be heard to sing

with the Mother of All Living?

Who’s infant hand

will the Shekhinah hold

when the God of Israel

is at home in His Land?

Those who’s Sinai souls stood as one

hear Moses whispering in their ear

who’s souls pass walls of water

with God as their only fear

who take hold of the tsitsit of the Tzaddik

They see reality through the Tzaddik’s eyes

They hear the joy of redemption rise

when in darkness creation cries

The God of Israel

the One the Only God of all

brings strict justice to all in Adam

and strict mercy to all in Abraham

Nations heard and became angry

Terror gripped Philistia

Edom became drunk and disorderly

All the borderlands became no one’s land

For the Day of the Lord was at hand!

But would that day 

be as soon as tomorrow?

Or would it be a thousand years?

God only knew…

God only knows…

But like seven secret thunders

Moses whispers in the ears

of the generation that hears

Speak no more of this matter

Neither add nor subtract

point nor crown to or from the Torah

in order that you may live

and keep possession of the land

The land beyond the east 

Beyond the west

Beyond the north

Beyond the south

that God gave by covenant to Abraham

the covenant that is saying

I am commanding you

Cross over the primordial waters

I am using you to turn the world

inside out and upside down

I am warning you with your own eyes

Ba’al Pe’or is no more

But you who are alive until the last day

are attached to your God

and to the tsitsit of the Tzaddik

For what nation of prayer

is like the congregation of the Jewish soul?

Whose God is faithful

to the tzaddikim of the generations

and to every lost lamb

of the quorum of Abraham

The mountain burned with holy fire

up to the Throne of Heaven

Darkness and cloud clouding cloud

covered our minds and cover them

when we heard His voice

inscribing tables of stone

And we found we had

hearts of stone to be turned to flesh

carrying the ordinances of God

into the Land of Life

Keep the angels at your back

and your ears pointed toward HaShem

For if the angels escort you away

you may not return from the judgment day

In a consuming fire there is no compromise

If you cause the Holy Land to die of thirst

will the waters of the Jordan save you?

Ask Adam, ask Noah!

Did ever a people hear God’s Voice

speaking out of the midst of the Holy Fire

as did the congregation of the Jewish soul

who heard and lived?

What God has cut for himself a nation

out of the belly of another nation

as God, Your God, 

did for you before your eyes?

Know this and understand it well

There is no other besides Him

There is no power of existence besides His

There is no other love

no other life for us to seek

And you are the children 

of the commandment of God

For you, Moses left cities of refuge

in the promised lands

of Reuben and Gad and Manasseh

Moses left you this inheritance

his hope in the crowning of Mashiach

over all the territories of hope

and all the cities of refuge

on Israel’s Great Sabbath Day

when all of creation enters God’s rest

If only their hearts would be like this

In Time as they are in Eternity

This is the challenge

This is the prayer

And he prayed that God would be at home

in Time as He is in Eternity

For God cups Eternity in His hand

and balances Time on His finger

But for Adam’s sake

He exiled them from eternity 

and shot their time like an arrow far away

Then for Israel’s sake

God searched and found the arrow

It had flown on the wind of Mashiach

and landed near Moshe’s grave

That Adam might scent the wind

and remember 

God was once their home

God’s word was once their heart

His commandment was once their mind

Moses designated three cities

so Adam might take refuge in their promise

until all the earth was filled with promise

and Jerusalem was come 

to her time of giving birth

*Being poetic notes derived from The Kehot Chumash - Parshah Va'etchanan, as well as, Keeping In Touch - Vol. 4: VaEschanan, based on the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe — and also,   Likutei Moharan Part II, Lesson # 1 of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov.