Category Archives: Torah Commentary

an offering to the most high

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Emil Nolde, “Dance Around the Golden Calf”

while the two men sat on the mountaintop
chiseling commandments in stone
the people poured out their fears
gleaming like pure gold from the altar
of their surrendered desires
they cried tomorrow shall be a festival
to the most high
then offering up their wildest hopes
their desperate dreams dancing they
shouted out hallels until at last
they came into the heart of their liberation
and faced the blinding truth of their commitment
when moses came down and saw
the people wheeling and whirling round
like sacred scrolls unfurling
he shattered the dusty tablets
at the foot of the mountain
and joined in the dance.

(Exodus 32:1-5)

a kingdom of priests

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now if you walk in my ways if you
honor in the divine image planted deep
within you will see you are all treasured all
holy yes you are a kingdom of priests look
inside see how you are adorned in
sacral vestments of gold and blue and purple
and crimson look deep inside see how your hearts shine
forth like precious stones close your eyes see how your
minds eye gleams like pure gold look
deeper still there you will encounter the holiest
of holies there i will meet with you there
i will speak with you

(Exodus 28:4-5, 17, 36)

this is how i will dwell among them

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Photo: Don Gale (from blog "Tips and Techniques: Landscape and Outdoor Photography")

god said to moses you shall accept
gifts from anyone whose heart is moved let
them bring their ragged scraps of cloth their
jagged flinty stones let them bring their
charred and splintered kindling the thick sands
of sinai gathered in the hems of their garments so
that when they leave my mountain when they go
stumbling back into the wilderness even as they
wander to the broken ends of the earth they
will know i dwell
among them

(Exodus 25:1-8)

i slightly rearrange the laws of exodus

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when my angel goes before you and brings you to the
amorites the hittites the canaanites the hivites the
jebusites i will not drive them out before you lest
the land become desolate do not annihilate them
nor tear them down nor smash their pillars for
if you mistreat them i will heed their outcry as
soon as they cry out to me and my anger
shall blaze forth
against you

works for me

(Exodus 22:20-23, 23:23-24)

Jethro’s Forgotten Offering

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when jethro high priest of midian heard
all that had happened in egypt he
kissed moses and bowing low he
said blessed be the god who
hears the cries of the oppressed who
liberates the captive the god who showed
such kindnesses to your people will surely
show them to mine as well
as moses ate of jethro’s offering at the
foot of the mountain he did not yet hear the
voice just a plaintive whisper you
must wreak vengeance upon the midianites
tell the israelites to take to the field and
slay every last male how could he possibly know that
the high priest’s sacrifice to his son in law’s
god would eventually be forgotten
like trails of smoke
long vanished
from sinai

(Exodus 18:1, 8-12, Numbers 31:1-7)

Who You Gonna Serve Now

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"The Delivery of Israel Pharaoh and his Hosts Overwhelmed in the Red Sea" by Francis Danby (1825)

then he sang this song to moses and the
israelites singing i am your god and you will
enshrine me the god of your fathers you must
exalt me i am the man of war who went up
against the false gods of egypt and cracked them like so
much dry straw the one who hurls chariots and soldiers
into the sea like small stones the one who will cast terror and
dread on the inhabitants of canaan for their sins i’m
your champion your protector your god my commands will
soon be revealed to you follow them lest i strike
you down as i’ve destroyed all the others maybe
someday you’ll be ready to serve the master
the one who’s greater yes even greater
than me

(Exodus 15: 1-5, 15-16, 26)

Passover Observance Then and Now

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and when your children ask you what
do you mean by this rite tell them
in the beginning we offered late night sacrifices
and supplications while our god meted out
punishments against the gods of egypt later
we hid behind behind doorjambs swelled with
dread murmuring pour out your wrath on
those who seek our blood and destroy the nations who know
not your name but now we observe by bursting the
gates of fear wide open proclaiming let all who’ve been
broken gather each another’s scattered
shattered pieces let all who seek liberation
come to the table let all who are hungry
come and eat

(Exodus 12:12, 26-27)

Moses Hearing Voices

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god said to moses i established my
covenant with abraham isaac and jacob to
give them the land of canaan this sounds to me like the
voice of imperial ambition god said to moses i will harden
pharoah’s heart that i may multiply my signs and marvels in
the land of egypt this sounds to me like
the voice of insecurity god said to moses i
have spared you in order that my fame may resound
throughout the world this sounds to me like the voice of
hubris god said to moses lift your rod and
i will strike the nile with the blood of our babies let
it overrun the land of egypt until it rots this sounds to
me like the voice of pain god said to moses i have heard the
cries of the israelites i will free them from their
bondage and set them free to serve an even greater
good this sounds to me like the
voice of god

(Exodus 6:2-6, 7:19, 9:16)

God Felt the Burning

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Proxima Centuri - the nearest star to the sun

the israelites cried out to god a
shout hurtling into space shining like a
star that would not die like a luminous
ball of plasma burning on and
on like the thermonuclear fusion of endless boundless
hydrogen that can never be exhausted
light emanating from proxima centauri takes
4.22 light years to be seen on earth it took 400 years
for oppression to transform into
liberation burning white hot but
never consumed

(Exodus 2:23-24)

Jacob’s Journey Complete

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Auguste Rodin, photograph by Dornac

now israel’s eyes were dim with age he said
i can see the one in whose
steps my father walked even when they led straight
into the fire i see the one who answered
my mother but could not relieve her
pain i can see so plainly my own reflection masked
and unmasked deceiver and deceived ascending
descending wrestling embracing fleeing
returning yes i see quite clearly these scarred and
withered hands are the hands of jacob but the face is
the face of god when he was ready to stop
struggling jacob drew his feet into the bed
breathed his last breath
and finally returned
home

(Genesis 48:10, 49:33)