Talmud Poems | Examples

A Tale of Ultimate Faith

     Nachman was a revered Sage
        The greatest of his age

     One day he came to his stand
        Armless! What had happened?

     The next day, no legs either
        His students, now in a fever 

     On the morrow, his body covered with boils
        Panic set in – Was that the reward for all of Nachman's toils?

     Asked if to teach, he still could
        He replied ~ ‘What happens is all for the good’




     ~ Adapted from part of the tale in the Talmud 
        of 'Nachum, Ish Gam-zo,' meaning 'Nachum, 
        the man who says, "This too is for the good." 
        Tractate Ta'anis / Fasting - Chapter Three, 
        page 10b

On a Transgender Child

A transgender child
does not not exist 
just because a white man 
says that that is so
as two spirited
third genders 
and others
(eight in the Talmud! that I didn’t know)
exist around the globe
as in the
hijra of India
fa’afafine of Samoa
burrnesha of Albania
quariwarmi of Peru
guevedoche of Dominican Republic
muxe of Oaxaca
sekrata of Madagascar 
fakaleiti of Tonga
lhamana of Zuni
winkte of Lakota
bakla of Philippines 
acault of Burma
xanith of Oman
and waria of Indonesia
just to name a few

gender is as binary
as is the world is flat
asserting so otherwise 
is simply spewing scat

The 'Mighty Maccabees'

    A few hundred ragtag, rabbinic Maccabees
      faced the might of Antiochus’ army
        60,000 fighting men strong                                                                               
      
    The Chanukah story we all know  
       The rabbis delivered Greece a knockout blow
    Rededicated the Temple, and with a small cruise of oil
       lit the lamps of the Menorah, eight nights in all 

    Yet in our prayers, not a single word about 
       the military prowess of the ‘Mighty Maccabees’
     We thank God, and God alone, for routing Greece

     Mattathias, the leader, and his sons,
        five indomitable priests
     we praise instead
        ~ but only for their spiritual feats



     ___________________________________________  
     The Talmud asks: 'What is Chanukah?' The above is
     (a much-condensed version of) the answer it gives. 
     (Tractate 'Shabbos,' 21a - 23b)... Also found in the 
     'Abridged Book of Jewish Law, Laws of Chanukah,
     Solomon Gantzfried, (English version)

The Environment Protected

     'A land of milk and honey' *
       not to be exploited for money

     Goats and sheep were banned
       from grazing and ruining the land

     Bearded Sages, the environment protected
       the profit motive summarily rejected


    ___________________________________
     *Numbers 14:8; Deuteronomy 31:20.
       The Talmud records the ban on 
       goats, whose milk Ancient Israel
       was 'flowing with.'

Of the Ilk of the 'Wiseman'

Those who would burn a Talmud
    Bible or Koran
  are of the ilk of
    the 'wiseman'

  who says 'Religion is fine
    as long as it's mine
  and those who disagree
    are no better than swine

Jerusalem Parade - Surprise Postscript

LGTQs paraded through Jerusalem without a hitch
    though security was tight, not one single glitch

  Under the supervision of one Itamar Ben-Gvir 
    dubbed a 'racist right-wing fanatic' by the press
  They conveniently forgot that he'd pass every test
    upholding the philosophy those truly religious bless:

  'Do not belittle any thing
    neither scorn any one ~
  Every thing contains a bit of Heaven
    a shining hour, every one'*



  ___________________________________________
  *Talmud, 'Ethics of the Fathers,' 4:2

Abracadabra

A bara k'davra 
   I shall create what I say

 With ten such utterances
   God brought our world into play



  ___________________________
  Note: According to the Rabbis of
  the Talmud, God created the world
  with ten statements, the first of 
  which was 'Let there be Light.'

Dear Brother

A poor soul approached who was singing the blues
  He asked, 'What does God no longer want me to do?'

'What is hateful to you, do not do to others
  All the rest is commentary, my dear brother'

He said, 'I've never heard it that way before
  When you've time, I'd like to hear more'

Though I thanked the blues singer very much ~
  Hillel's words, not mine, his heart touched



_____________________________________
Hillel was a Talmudic Sage of the 1st Century 
BCE. On the brink of the Sabbath one late Fri-
day afternoon, a stranger asked him: 'Tell me
the Torah on one foot.' Hillel replied, 'What is
hateful to you do not do to others. All the rest
is commentary. Go and learn.' (Talmud, 
Shabbos 31a)

Love Your Friend

Love your friend* as yourself
  That is the whole Torah**
The rest is commentary
  How can that be?

We are commanded to love God too
  with all our heart, soul, and might***
So how is just loving your friend
  to Almighty God not a slight?

The answer, of course, lies in the verse --
  Who is the friend you can count on
Through thick and thin, through bad and worse?
  ~ Why, that friend is God, foremost and first ****


_______________________________________
*Leviticus 19:18: 'Love your friend as yourself,'
The word ' your friend' (Hebrew, rey-eh'cha) is 
often mistranslated into English as 'your neighbor.' 
In Biblical and Talmudic Hebrew, 'rey'us' always 
refers to friendship.  'Shakhen' is 'neighbor.' 

**This is how the Sage Hillel responded to a
fellow who wanted to be taught the whole
Torah while standing on one leg. (See Talmud
Shabbos 31a).

***Deuteronomy 6:5

****See Proverbs 27:10: 'Do not forsake your
friend and your father's friend...' (Your father's
friend is God Himself -- Rashi's Commentary).

Here's To Number 70

"60 for Old Age; 70 for White Hair" 
                            ~ Talmud, Avoth, Chapter 5

Not only am I old
  Now I'm all white
Just don't go picking on me
  I can still give you a fight

For at age 60 I felt young
  And 70 is energy
Why, I can recite the whole alphabet
  All the way up to D...

So here's to my 70th birthday
  A truly frightening occasion
Thank God it's Shavu'oth*
  ~ Reason for celebration




*Shavu'oth, the Festival of Weeks, is 
sometimes referred to as the Pentecost.
Shavuo'th starts tonight, May 28, 2020,
also the date of my birthday.

A Tribute To Single Mothers

How little credit you are given 
to have chosen to given birth!
Millions of aborted children~
where are their bodies now?
An answer far too frightening
us to unearth!

You took your child home, no
Daddy to there to help you.
But, oh the joy~~ staring into
those newborn, deep brown eyes.
In the middle of the night, resting this 
God-given gift, on your thankful thighs.

The happiness that the haughty, harsh
judging world never sees.
You, proud mother and great life saver.
In the night, on your knees, head bowed.
My God, know much you are loved,
and so heavenly favored!


              March 6, 2020
                  8pm PST


From the Talmud: " Whoever saves one life, saves
the entire world."

Do You Know Me

My friend, do you know me?
   I am a Pharisee
No, not per the dictionary
  Which mischaracterizes my beliefs and me

For while he keeps the tradition, it's true
  A Pharisee's an ever-evolving Jew
He delves deep into the Talmud to learn the ways
  to deal with the problems of the world today

Thanks to the Pharisees a Jewish-Israeli farmer
   can halakhically* 'Sabbath-milk' a cow in its barn, or
devotedly observe Passover or Yom Kippur
  be he in the jungle, outer space, or Kuala Lumpur

What's more, be it abortion, euthanasia or homosexuality
  the Talmud treats current issues of controversiality --
A Pharisee views the times in light of the Talmud, you see
  ~ differentiating his faith from Hebraic-Christianity**


________________________________________________
* halakhically = in accordance with Jewish Law, in this case
                        the laws of the Sabbath
** Practitioners (for a few generations after Jesus Christ) 
                        were known as Hebrew-Christians.

Midnight Mission

His days were hard, his nights were long
The Psalmist woke, six hours 'fore dawn
Awakened by a breeze so slight
His chamber still bereft of light
Some scoff he rose the lyre to play
The record shows he stood and prayed   

             **********
Notes:

The Psalmist is King David
The record is the Babylonian Talmud:
Tractate Brochos (Blessings), pages 3a & 3b
The lyre functioned as David's alarm clock, its strings
stirred by the breeze that arises in Israel at midnight
David formulated a long prayer service, known as Tikkun Chatzos,
loosely translated as 'Midnight Prayers,' which pious Jews still perform today

So Many Choices

All is foreknown, yet free will is given

We are not robots, our lives are worth living

Choices we make, room for misgivings



      -- Based on Talmud, Ethics of the Fathers 3:19

A Precarious Balance

A tripod of God's Word, Divine Service, Acts of Kindness do we rest on

God's Word's forsaken by most; the language of the Service, foreign

~ Acts of Kindness keep the World from Chaos and Warring


                                    ---See Talmud, Ethics of the Fathers 1:2

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