To administer truth takes no tape at all.
It is only the administration of things
False – those paper-pushing societies
Where the secretaries’ secretaries have
Secretaries and the boardroom is indeed
A room for all things bored, to meet and
Discuss the boredom crisis; committees
Creating more committees committed to
The compilation of yet more committees
(And alliterations) – that are susceptible to
The tangled and sticky miles of red tape
(Not to mention never-ending documents
Longer yet for their infinite abbreviations
Etc…)
Yitro the minister of Midian
He was a minister of one such an administration,
With temples full of many gods but empty of one
Unified purpose and peace;
He would administer both in the religious and
Societal sense, a minister of a foreign people
And of foreign affairs – people foreign to the
Mission, affairs foreign to the soul: he would
Worship the pen instead of the Writer, pray
To the building instead of its Builder, bow
To the heavens instead of to the heavenly
Creator – he would serve the art and not
The Artist, the chisel and not the Craftsman
Yitro the minister of Midian
The father-in-law of Moshe
Heard everything that G-d
Did to Moshe and Israel
And he changed; he converted in the classic
Sense of the word: converted all his previous
Knowledge of things mundane to knowledge of
Things Divine, converted his belief in things
Multiple and fragmented to belief in the One
And Only, who creates all things multiple and
Fragmented…but only so that we can bridge and
Unify them – heaven and earth so that we can make
Them hug one another, body and soul so that we
Can make them dance together, mind and heart so
That we can have them merge as one, you and me
So that we can complete each other – man and G-d:
So that we can be and illuminate and make Him proud
Even the splitting of the sea could only merge the
Dry land and the wet sea, the worlds revealed and
The worlds hidden…
It takes a minister of an idol culture and an idle heart,
A leader of things faux to become a follower of things
Friendly for the real bridge to suspend and draw-
Out the creases, draw-in the sweetness and
Draw-on the beauty
You shall be to Me
A kingdom of ministers
And a holy nation
And this, only this – the transformation of a man, a minister
Of a foreign service to a minister of the Divine service; only
This transcendence – and therefore unification – of body and
Soul is worthy and can inspire the ultimate transcendence and
Unification: the marriage of heaven and earth at Mount Sinai –
And every moment since.
Now no longer ministers of foreign affairs;
But prime ministers, administrators, leaders
Of the most precious, prime thing out there –
Our bodies and our souls
Heading to the most precious, prime real estate –
The Promised Land
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.