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Poem for Elat Chayyim

Larry Gerstenhaber

Hungry,
The Jew,
Searching
for an opening
to the soul,
And,
Community,
Finds
A gate,
On which
is written,
Elat Chayyim.

Unknown to him,
The kabbalist
inside himself,
Waits,
In that gate,
Heart burning,

For the chesed
of satisfied desire,
While learning,
Sings at the gate,
Of
His soon to open
Mind.

I,
am home,
Here,
In the quiet
garden home,
Of a God,
I barely know,
Yet who brings
The small seed,
Of this Vision,
To a ripeness,
New,
In my community.

Oh Elat Chayyim,
How you invite
that Jew,
To feast,
On that fruit,
How you open
Your gate
To my questions,
How you bear
That Jew's pain,
And joy,
How you create,
Sinai again,
This time
Without fear.

[ From the latest issue of Or HaDor ] [ Translation of Psalm 19 ] [ Meditative teachings ] [ Hallel ] [ Heads or Tails ] [ From Psalm 22 ] [ Parades ] [ In a Plain Brown Paper Wrapper ] [ A Song for Raising Consciousness ] [ Elat Chayyim poem ] [ Shelach ] [ An Introduction to Schmelvic Aphorisms ] [ Passover Transformations ] [ Insights from our Rabbis ]