A Poem For the Pentecost
~ A Poem for Shavuos ~ *
Two Jews, three opinions
Twenty-nine of us need three minyans *
Yet when we camped at Sinai, all arguments stopped
Jaws in heaven must have dropped
Angels astonished - Not one human complaint?
If they'd blood in their wings, surely they'd faint
What caused this dramatic transformation
from rank division to unification? ...
The divine souls G-d implanted within us *
embraced their source, Divinity Itself
At that juncture, our fragmented souls reunited
Like 'one man with one heart,' crystal-clear sighted
Quarreling stopped, though later to restart
~ For a magic moment, Divine souls not torn apart
______________________________________________
*Notes: 'Shavuos' is the original Hebrew name of the hol-
iday known to Christians by the name of the 'Pentecost.'
Shavuos means 'weeks:' Seven weeks between Passover
and Shavuos. The next (50th) day is the holiday, the 'Pen-
tecost.' ... A 'minyan' is a Jewish prayer quorum, which re-
quires ten men age 13 or over for public prayers. (The
number '29' in the poem therefore introduces a slightly
jocular tone, as by rights it should be 30)... Finally, see
Genesis 2:7, wherein G-d breathes a soul into Adam
through his nostrils.
Post Comments
Poetrysoup is an environment of encouragement and growth so only provide specific positive comments that indicate what you appreciate about the poem. Negative comments will result your account being banned.
Please
Login
to post a comment