Category Archives: Torah Commentary

Joseph’s Final Dream

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he looked down at his kneeling brothers
peeled off his robe of fine egyptian linen
to reveal his bloodsoaked coat and said
i am your brother Joseph
the one who has dreamed
who has waited so long for this moment
the one for whom you never had one kind word
the one whom you cast into an empty lifeless pit
the one whom you sold to traders like so much dead meat
the one who was taken down to egypt in chains
while you sang so sweetly to our father
your son was surely gutted by a wild beast oh
yes i am the one who slept for years
in that stinking dungeon floor with nothing
but these dreams of vengeance to keep me alive
and now you come to grovel here before me
pleading for my food for my pity my compassion
after joseph seized the child Benjamin and
had him impaled outside the city gates
his servants woke him and said if you please master
there are eleven israelites asking for you
and they claim to be your brothers.

(Genesis 45:4)

Joseph Remade

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joseph was brought up from the
dungeon scrubbed clean his hair
shaved and stripped naked layer by painful
layer until he realized it’s not me it’s
never been me god has been dreaming
these dreams for us all along
then he was dressed in robes of the finest
linen a royal ring was slipped on his finger and
a gold chain was placed around his neck he was given
the name zaphenat-paneah but joseph secretly named himself
manasseh that means i don’t mind the pain any more and
ephraim that means come i am ready
to feed you

(Genesis 41:14,16,42,45,51,52)

Jacob Gets His Blessing

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he tells him let me go the sun is rising but
jacob doesn’t hear all he hears is esau the elder esau the
stronger esau his father’s favorite who had eagerly
entered his father’s tent he’s hearing those awful
cries don’t you have a blessing left for me bless me
too father bless me too the words bursting out of
the tent please please bless me too
father over and over and over their bodies are writhing the
dark water splashing against the cold night air please bless
me too father bless me
he pins him against the slope of
the riverbank now jacob is screaming please bless me father he
shakes him like a limp rag doll sobbing i will not
let you go until you BLESS ME
the sun peeking over the jabbok jacob
looks down at his face and sees
his father beaming with love and pride at
long last his mother saying
it is safe to come home now my son his
brother saying seeing your face is like
seeing the face of god jacob blinks water
from his eyes the river is silent still mirror
clear he stands up sees the sun
and slowly limps his way across
the water

(Genesis 27:38, 32:25-27)

We Are Climbing Jacob’s Vortex

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jacob came upon a certain place and
stopped there for the night for
the sun was setting he took a
stone placed it against
his head and lay down in
his dream he saw a ladder set
on the earth its top reached the heavens
angels going up and down according to
freud don’t call it jacob’s ladder he’d probably call
it jacobs phallus after all he’s reckoning with his childhood
passion to please his mother just look where
that got him and according to jung the
ladder is the axis of communication between jacob’s ego
and self in other words he’s building a stairway
from lower to higher realms of
consciousness the hindus might say
the stone on jacob’s head opened his anja
chakra did you know that spiritual
energy from external environments enter your
body through this gateway and did you also
know that this spot corresponds to
the pineal gland which descartes believed
was the seat of the soul and the
point of connection between body and
the intellect or maybe this certain place was a
vortex and when his head rested upon
it earth energy spiraled up whirling
toward the open heavens then came roaring
back down whispering i am
with you i will protect you wherever you
go i promise

(Genesis 28:11-15)

Isaac Digs a Well

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so isaac departed from there and
encamped in the wadi of gerar where
he dug anew the wells
which had been dug in the days
of his father abraham digging
deep he’s clawing at the
dry dead earth those long
buried voices leaking out
gurgling up like hidden springs burst
open cast out that horrid slave woman and her son
now take your other son whom you love so very
very much and bind him up tight don’t
worry god will provide for the sacrifice my
boy so he named that well sitnah that means
pain his eyes so filled with his hot
tears he doesn’t notice at
first the ground growing softer and
sweeter who is this woman
walking in the field toward me
i am your god fear not for
i am with you i will bless you i
will keep you safe so isaac changed
the name of the well to rechovot that means
god had torn open his bindings and
gave his soul wide open space to
roam when he woke up his servants
came to him and told him about the well they
had dug and said to him we have
found water

(Genesis 26:18, 21, 32)

Ephron the Hittite Quotes a Price

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abraham arose from beside his
dead and staggered into
the town square blinking
back his grief squinting into the white hot
noonday sun he said
i am but but a resident alien among you
sell me a burial site that i may remove
my dead for burial

ephron the hittite eyed the
frayed gash on abraham’s robe you
think four hundred shekels is
a bargain trust me my
friend you’ll never finish
paying for this
dirty stinking cave go
ahead and bury your dead

when abraham breathed his last his
his sons isaac and ishmael buried
him in the cave he had purchased then
god blessed his son isaac oh
believe me someday
this place is
going to cost us
all dearly

(Genesis 23:3-4, 14, 25:8-9)

Abraham Argues With God, Tokyo 1945

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"The Flames of Kototoi Bridge—Memories of Losing my Family," painting by Kano Teruo

will you sweep away innocent with
the guilty what if there are
fifty innocent within the city will
you wipe out the place far be it from
you to do such a thing to
bring death upon the innocent the
M-69s which released 100-foot streams of fire upon
detonating sent flames rampaging through
densely packed wooden homes superheated air created
a wind that sucked victims into the flames and
fed the twisting infernos asphalt
boiled in the 1,800-degree heat with much of
the fighting-age male population at the war
front women children and the elderly
struggled in vain to battle the flames or flee
like other survivors nihei who escaped the fire with her
family intact said the bombing showed that war is
never justifiable those images in my mind can never
be erased she said i can see myself there the
flames all around me and i’m running for my
life shall not the judge of all the
earth act justly?

(Genesis 18:23-25 with AP article, “1945 Tokyo Firebombing Left Legacy of Terror, Pain” by Joseph Coleman)

Avram and Sarai Take Their Leave

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you must
go leave your
native land leave behind all
you know all you
have all you
love shatter everything your
father holds sacred your mother’s desperate
hopes and dreams crazy shards
flying up pinwheeling like sparks spinning
off a sacrificial
fire go beyond leap into the
dark to a place you do
not know and maybe never will
offer up your trust like
a writhing bleating newborn
lamb on the altar yes go and seek
your blessing find your place among the families
of the earth you really think you’re so
different what makes you so
special

(Genesis 12:1-3)

God Considers the Generation of Noah

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the earth is filled with it
creation’s choking on it
gone horribly wrong the bloodshed so much
blood soaking the earth polluting
the earth cries out to me shrieking
just shrieking out to me i can’t stand it
any more i can’t think i can’t
hear myself think what was i
thinking what was i thinking
i am undone i
will undo tear down the
firmament open up the
floodgates let the waters
let chaos rain down
let the dark waters below
rise up let’s undo creation
wash the earth clean what have i
done
seemed like such a good
good idea at the
time

(Genesis 6:11-12, 7:11)