hiding

sorry all....
I've been hiding out in my bunker for the last week or so terrified of pirates.. attacking presidential airplanes...
and now...SWINE FLU!
just when I thought it was safe to come out...
swine flu
swine flu
swine flu
swine flu
Then MK Yakov LItzman from UTJ in Israel took offense to having it called swine flu..because..swine is offensive to Jews..
I'm not making this up...
So I called him up and suggested "yenne machle" (that disease..) but apparently..that name is already taken...

I almost forgot to mention as I'm sure most of you have noticed by now the Great Falls of Paterson New Jersey have become a National Park.
I read this and it brought me back to a wonderful spring afternoon in 2000. I was driving down the Garden State Parkway and the kids were getting unruly in the back and I suddenly remembered reading somewhere about this interesting historical area in Paterson NJ. So I took the exit and found my way to grimy downtown Paterson. We got out of the car and were stunned to find ourselves overlooking a huge waterfall of almost Niagara proportions (especially after a good rainstorm) smack in middle of a Paterson street. I thought I was dreaming..but these things do tend to happen to me (a few weeks ago I woke up shabbos afternoon to find the serengeti in my basement).
In my mind I could already hear James Earl Jones Imax voice intoning "it was a beautiful spring afternoon in 2000 when David Lake followed the spirit of the great falls...and discovered one of natures hidden gems..."
Well I got home and did some research and it seems..other people know about them as well. And just last mnth Obama declared the area a National Park.
For history buffs, the area is full of early American history and for those that love the exhilaration of lots of rushing, tumbling water and mist in your face..its worth a visit, it's 5 minutes off the GSP.






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new song - Lo Omus

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These words are so powerful..
It speaks of the human spirit..
to somehow..ignore..our ultimate destiny
and embrace the present
and life...
and attach ourselves..to something eternal...
in a very brief existence..

I will not die...but live...

elusive song

There is a song..
A deeply beautiful beautiful song
Somewhere..in the back pages..
Of the Hagaddah..
After Chad Gadya..
Where the eyes are heavy.
.and the spirit is soaring
I never seem to find it..
Always on its coattails..
as I thumb through the pages..
past midnight..
past that mysterious time..
when we slip from the past..
into the future..
and..eliyahu has already gone..
and we sing strangely mysterious songs…
and theres that one elusive song…
I strangely recall..but
Can never seem to find…
Before I pass into sweet slumber..
the words...sliding off my lips..






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Here comes the sun

why do I have this nagging uneasy feeling
that I'll wake up tomorrow morning..
and it won't be Pesach..
..instead I'll be 60 years old
looking up toward the sun
wondering incredulously..
.......wasn't it just yesterday?



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Seder Connections

My Father..sitting on my right..
My Grandfather on his right..
My son on my left..
Why is this night different?

My sons son is on his left
My grandfathers father on his right
And his father next to him


Connected through the ages, the years
floating above our doubts our smallness our fears
Drawing life from the past
Drawing strength from the future

Sandwiched between the light
Of The Exodus
Sinai on one side
And the light of the end of days
The world of perfection
On the other..

We , in the night
Have nothing but faith..
We, the sufferers
Consequence of fate
Spinning in a spiritual void
We suck from the vein..that passes through
This night
Hoping for a small glimpse of light
But
Perhaps these lights are drawing their power
Forging their connection
From us,
From our imperfection
who knows?

And so we sing...
And so we sit like kings
Eating bitter herbs

Saving one matzah for midnight
One memory of this moment
Of faith
Of tears
Of this special blind love
To our love..above
And hide it away
And pray...
That it isn’t stolen away
......by our children

dusty tomes

Dusty seforim..revisited..
Fanning through slightly..
Yellowed pages...
Hallowed letters..
Old notes...flutter to the floor..
I stand on the stool and sigh..
As my eyes scan....scrawled letters..
Who wrote these?
Who once dreamt of knowing all this?
Whose heart once warmed..
At the thought of long winter nights..
Early mornings..
Of knowing...and accomplishing..
Now...im choking...in a cloud of dust..
Of vast knowledge..
Surrounding me
Transparently..
Choking me..mocking me..with its sheer futility
Tomes...suddenly heavy in my hands..
Tombs..of pages and words.....
And yet...the dreams...
Those same dreams..still..warm my heart..
Still lighten the load...
Because..after all..
Apparently...it was I..
And tomorrow is still there..
..forever there
well...
not exactly forever..
but..

sigh


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