A journey has many parts; by
Studying them we learn and
By their implementation we
Move forward
Separating the parts from the sum
May make the journey a bit easier
Here are some of the parts that
Make up the journey of life.
Point of Departure
Yaakov departed from
Be’er Sheva and went
Toward Choron
All parts begin with parting
And all journeys begin with
Departure
But one must know the
Point of origin before one
Can find the point of departure:
Be’er Sheva is a place of comfort
And peace, where the wells flow
Strong and the covenants stronger
Yet. It is security, home, blanketed
In the cocoon that is family, safe in
The arms of healthy values and clear
Virtue.
Choron is a place of wrath, fury, anger:
The ugliness of the world
For a child, even a teenager or young adult,
There must be a Be’er Sheva; but once a
Person wishes to build a life, a family, a home
The person must depart from the comfort and
Security of home for the difficult challenges of
The world
Close Encounters of the Holy Kind
He encountered the place
He came and he prayed.
One would think the journey should
Begin with learning the new language,
Customs and dress of the new country.
One would think wrong.
We pray, connect to everything we
Have been taught and everything we
Will teach others; we pray that the past
Wells of knowledge and covenants of peace
Never be left behind even as we move
Ahead
Ahead of the Pack
He took from the stones
Of the place and placed
Them around his head
Why only the head:
If he feared the wild,
Then the whole body
Should be surrounded;
If he didn’t, then none
Of the body should?
Because if the head is protected,
Surrounded by stones, hard rock
Solid faith and humility, unwavering
Then the wild of which we speak
Will not harm the body either; true
The body must deal in the physical
But when the head is in the right place
Then the entire body follows suit
A head represents intellect, but intellect is in flux;
The intellect differs in person, age and conviction:
However, when surrounded by stones, humility, then
The entire body of work and everything one does is safe
And sound
And then:
Stones Immaculate
This stone which I have
Set as a monument shall
Become a house of G-d
Not gold, not silver…
Not (only) the shiny
Things in life, but
(Even) the mundane
Ones become a home,
A place of warmth and
Comfort for the Divine
The Divine in a Torah scroll
Or in a prayer book, is one thing;
But when one takes stones, matter
And makes them Divine, that truly is
A sign of a home, where not only
Is the mat welcoming but the entire
Edifice is welcoming as well
We can truly accomplish this, each and
Every one of us our part, only when we
Depart from ourselves, pray and connect
For and to what is true, and put our heads
In the right places.
These are some of the parts that lead to the
Greater sum of the parts
Mendel Jacobson is a writer, poet and journalist living in Brooklyn. His weekly poetry can be seen at jakeyology.blogspot.com
The words of this author reflect his/her own opinions and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Orthodox Union.