The Birth of Conscience
02/03/2011 10:16:57 AM
You carry our name in yours
so you are called to the Torah
the son or daughter of your father and mother.
Our names interwoven
inseparable.
You stand, chant, speak alone
As close to you as we are,
you are not us,
not an echo of our sound.
You are your own voice.
You are not us and we are not...Read more...
PARENTS AT A BIRTH
02/03/2011 10:15:59 AM
We are not born enough.
When we were first born
we were not aware.
God has given us another birth,
a miracle of life
out of body and soul of us both.
Flesh of our flesh, blood of our blood,
drawn from the marrow of our bones.
Here, before us a unique being, unlike any
created in this world, a mystery of...Read more...
Whose am I?
02/03/2011 10:15:58 AM
Not "Who am I"
but "Whose am I".
In belonging lies the secret identity.
Who belongs to me,
To whom do I belong?
Who accepts me
Whom do I accept?
Who has claims upon me
Upon whom do I lay claim?
Who knows my failings?
Who knows the meanings
of my angers and ambitions, my fears,
My cries for love...Read more...
Bar-Bat Mitzvah
02/03/2011 10:15:57 AM
You stand alone
while we, your parents
are seated in the congregation.
You stand on your own two feet
to lead the congregation,
to sing, to pray, to study.
They and we listen to you carefully,
They and we hear your words, your commentary.
My son, my daughter, your voice is heard,
Your wisdom addresses all of...Read more...
A Parent's Perspective
02/02/2011 10:30:59 AM
You are not today as you were yesterday
Nor are we.
Something has occurred.
We sit with the congregation
You stand alone on the Bimah
You lead the congregation
We follow
You sing, pray, speak
We listen.
You are not an echo of our sand
You have your own words.
The still, small voice of...Read more...
My Grandson's Bar Mitzvah
02/02/2011 10:30:58 AM
My grandson a Bar Mitzvah
Child of my child called to the Torah
I am face to face with the future.
Geography has distanced us
I have not raised him
nor given him instruction
Bound his wounds, absorbed his sobs
rallied him to victory.
Yet from the distance
I have heard and imagined
his defeats and...Read more...
Reflections of a Parent
02/02/2011 10:15:59 AM
It is over now
the chanting, the speech,
the candies, the gifts,
the band, the music,
It is the next day, the day beyond.
Now the real choice begins.
Now you are responsible, accountable
it is you who must choose.
Will you choose to live what you have spoken?
Or will those promises, rapturous sentiments
Read more...
Reflections of a Bar/Bat Mitzvah: The Day After
02/02/2011 10:15:58 AM
It is over now, and I have done well.
chanted well, my voice was firm,
my speech lucid.
It is over now.
The gifts opened, the band, the music
that congratulate
It is the next day.
Is this a new stage
on a journey of self-discovery,
or will this beginning speedily halt?
Will...Read more...
Bride and Groom
02/02/2011 10:00:59 AM
Pour my cup of wine with thine
into one vessel
Fill the emptiness
with drink of laughter, song and love
Drink together
Let us be strengthened in each other.
Our lives, like our wines, are intermingled
An extraordinary arithmetic
union without subtraction
Two persons into one
one person into two.
Fusion...Read more...
Marriage the Great Choice
02/02/2011 10:00:58 AM
A different chemistry in marriage.
Not I becoming you or you becoming me,
Not I absorbing you,
Or you absorbing me.
Without loss of identity,
An enlargement of each of us.
A union, not by coercion
Not by surrender or domination
But by choice and mutuality.
Did not Ruth describe our union?
"Where you go I...Read more...
Sun, November 24 2024
23 Cheshvan 5785
