momentary gift..

the leaves were falling..
like a colorful blizzard..
the air was thick with..
the sweet scent of autumn..
and..was heavy with a sad..
kinda nostalgia..like
train stations..and..
they stood there..
.....all seven there was
cheery April..
bright eyed May..
fun loving June and July..
lazy August..
fashionable..September..
and October..just plain cool..
.....and me
with my winter valice..
..the memories..filling the air
between us...

I turned to head North...
when they said..

wait...

we have a little
gift for you..
a little something
we wont be needing..
until we come back..
use it well..
and enjoy...this
....extra hour


and they disappeared over the darkening horizon..


.

curses

He sat in his place after the closing door told him that he was alone. The Shul was half lit by weak fluorescent bulbs.
He was a poor and childless man and his house was a dark and tense place.
So he lingered here as long as he could.

He opened his Chumash and started learning the enigmatic chapter of the original sin. He suddenly sighed and took off his glasses. He sat there staring into some unseen dimension and starting whispering to Hashem.
He said "Hashem..I can understand if you don't want to bless me, afterall I might not be worthy of blessings..but I'm asking you to curse me..!
Didn't you curse all mankind with the words By the sweat of your face you will eat bread? Hashem...where's my bread? . And Father..did you not curse Eve...You will give birth to children with pain. Where's my curse?? Am I so low..that I'm not even worthy of being cursed?"

The tears were now rolling down his cheeks and he was shaking back and forth in an intense trancelike motion..letting his emotions flow in the emptiness.

He suddenly remembered the Gemara that says that a poor person and one without children are one of the 4 situations in which a person is nechshav k'meis..it's as if he's dead.

And he suddenly realized that he had been reserved for the worst of the primeval curses of them all.
And somehow found comfort in that.


.

genesis

He lay in bed..
cold...
dark and damp..
winds howling
on the other side..
of the fragile glass..
It had been a week now..
since he had been

banished

from the garden of eden
a week...since..
he'd been
basking in that
ethereal glow..

but God told him to go
and he fetched the strength
he needed to go on
to re-set...
genesis of time..
In the beginning..
all over again
God created the world
in 6 days...
He'd have to wait 5 days
for his turn..
but in the meantime..
he'll watch...
and crave...that 7th day..
in the garden of eden
(before he gets banished)

...(again)



.

Chol Hamoed Pictures

I had the opportunity, this past Chol Hamoed to go to some truly beautiful places in Upstate NY and Cattus State Park in Toms River, NJ
Here are some pictures..
Enjoy!

all together now

the stillness of the house
broken by the porch door
sliding open..
and then closed again
with muted thud..
he enters the chilly sukah
early morning mist..
they lay there...waiting
all year...
the lulav proud and upright
model citizen...
in the morning chill..
brings the hadas...
with his perfectly coifed..
green leavery..close to him..
and then...reaches out..
to the unruly..arava...
the one with no wisdom..
and no deeds..
wild leaves..
and pulls him close..
on his other side..
today...they see...
how..essential he is
huddled together..warm..
even the tzadik the Esrog...
inches closer....
as the sun rises..
and the rays..line through the slats..
and all of them together...
are lifted...and become..
one complete
perfect
.....mitzvah...



.
chag sameach

.