Happy New Year 2011 !!!!!!!!!!!

New Year's Eve 1907 -- Times Square

The Sun beginning its return after the Moon reappears from her eclipse: What power has been unleashed!

Paul Juraszek, The Sun & the Moon, 1989

The Burning Babe, a Christmas poem by Robert Southwell

Fire tore through the shantytown 

of Quezon city in Manila in the Philippines, 

leaving 7,000 homeless 

and several more injured

As I in hoary winter's night stood shivering in the snow,

Surprised I was with sudden heat which made my heart to glow;

And lifting up a fearful eye to view what fire was near,

A pretty babe all burning bright did in the air appear;

Who, though scorched with excessive heat, such floods of tears did shed,

As though his floods should quench his flames, which with his tears were fed.

"Alas," quoth he, "but newly born, in fiery heats I fry,

Yet none approach to warm their hearts, or feel my fire but I!

My faultless breast the furnace is, the fuel wounding thorns,

Love is the fire, and sighs the smoke, the ashes shame and scorns;

The fuel justice layeth on, and mercy blows the coals,

The metal in this furnace wrought are men's defiled souls,

For which, as now on fire I am to work them to their good,

So will I melt into a bath to wash them in my blood."

With this he vanished out of sight and swiftly shrunk away,

And straight I called unto mind that it was Christmas Day.

...we Gadarenes are not ascetics...

Richard Wilbur, Poet Laureate, 1987-1988

Matthew VIII,28 ff

Rabbi, we Gadarenes
Are not ascetics; we are fond of wealth and possessions.
Love, as You call it, we obviate by means
Of the planned release of aggressions.

We have deep faith in property.
Soon, it is hoped, we will reach our full potential.
In the light of our gross product, the practice of charity
Is palpably non-essential.

It is true that we go insane;
That for no good reason we are possessed by devils;
That we suffer, despite the amenities which obtain
At all but the lowest levels.

We shall not, however, resign
Our trust in the high-heaped table and the full trough.
If You cannot cure us without destroying our swine,

I did not know what was happening in my heart...

Robert Penn Warren, Poet Laureate, 1986-1987

Tell Me a Story

Long ago, in Kentucky, I, a boy, stood
By a dirt road, in first dark, and heard
The great geese hoot northward.

I could not see them, there being no moon
And the stars sparse.I heard them.

I did not know what was happening in my heart.

It was the season before the elderberry blooms,
Therefore they were going north.

The sound was passing northward.

Suddenly you know he knows too.

Carolina Chocolate Drops

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gwendolyn Brooks, Poet Laureate, 1985-1986

To Be In Love by

To be in love
Is to touch with a lighter hand.
In yourself you stretch, you are well.
You look at things
Through his eyes.
A cardinal is red.
A sky is blue.
Suddenly you know he knows too.
He is not there but
You know you are tasting together
The winter, or a light spring weather.
His hand to take your hand is overmuch.
Too much to bear.
You cannot look in his eyes
Because your pulse must not say
What must not be said.
When he
Shuts a door-
Is not there_
Your arms are water.
And you are free
With a ghastly freedom.
You are the beautiful half
Of a golden hurt.
You remember and covet his mouth
To touch, to whisper on.
Oh when to declare
Is certain Death!
Oh when to apprize
Is to mesmerize,
To see fall down, the Column of Gold,
Into the commonest ash.

Beha'alotecha: The Seven Lamps of the Menorah

"Speak to Aaron and tell him, 'When you light the lamps, the seven lamps should shine towards the center of the Menorah.'" (Num. 8:2)

Why does the Torah emphasize this particular detail — that the seven lamps should face the center of the Menorah? Why not begin with the overall mitzvah — to light the Menorah each evening?

Also, what is the significance of the Menorah's seven branches?

Different Paths of Wisdom

The Sages wrote that the Menorah represents wisdom and enlightenment (Baba Batra 25b). All wisdom has a common source, but there exist different approaches to wisdom. Every individual pursues those spheres of knowledge to which he is naturally drawn.

The Midrash (Bamidbar Rabbah 15:7) compares the seven lamps of the Menorah to the seven planets in the solar system, illuminating the nighttime sky. What is the meaning of this symbolism?

Many of the ancients understood that the planets and constellations influence our nature and personality traits. A person under the influence of Mars, for example, will have different traits then one under the influence of Jupiter (see Shabbat 165a). In other words, God created each of us with a unique character in order that we should perfect ourselves in the particular path that suits us. In this way, all of creation is completed; through the aggregation of all individual perfections, the universe attains overall perfection. Just as each planet symbolizes a distinct character trait, each branch of the Menorah is a metaphor for a specific category of intellectual pursuits. God prepared a path for each individual to attain wisdom according to his own character and interests.

Towards the Center

However, we should be careful not to follow our natural intellectual inclinations exclusively. The Torah stresses that "when you light the lamps" — when we work towards that individual enlightenment that suits our particular character — we should take care that this wisdom will "shine towards the center of the Menorah." What is the center of the Menorah? This is the wisdom of the Torah itself. We need to draw specifically from the light of Torah, whose source is the underlying unity of all wisdom.

In truth, the seven branches of the Menorah are not truly distinct, separate paths. All seven receive light from the unified wisdom with which God enlightens His world. For this reason, the Menorah was fashioned from a single piece of gold, mikshah zahav. The special manner in which the Menorah was formed reveals the underlying unity of all forms of wisdom.

(Gold from the Land of Israel pp. 239-240. Adapted from Midbar Shur, pp. 53-55.)

I've used this photo before, but it is so forlornly beautiful....

But there are children to appease

With ducking in those leafy seas….

Robert Fitzgerald, Poet Laureate, 1984-1985

Lightness in Autumn

The rake is like a wand or fan,

With bamboo springing in a span

To catch the leaves that I amass

In bushels on the evening grass.

I reckon how the wind behaves

And rake them lightly into waves

And rake the waves upon a pile,

Then stop my raking for a while.

The sun is down, the air is blue,

And soon the fingers will be, too,

But there are children to appease

With ducking in those leafy seas.

So loudly rummaging their bed

On the dry billows of the dead,

They are not warned at four and three

Of natural mortality.

Before their supper they require

A dragon field of yellow fire

To light and toast them in the gloom.

So much for old earth’s ashen doom.