I put pressure on decisions
more than they pressure me

Expecting them to transform
how everything’s going to be.

JUNE 2, 2007

 Walking alone along

a quiet shore
barefoot

Letting the water
surprise me
sometimes washing
over my feet,
sometimes reaching
my knees,
sometimes teasing
falling just short

A one and only
experience
just now
my first time.

I will say
no more

Poetic Purim Prayer

 Anything.

Because that's what they say. They say that on Purim you can ask G-d for anything and it will be granted. One of the most rationalistic rabbis I know says that despite being dubious he tried it one year big time. And he got what he asked for in the most dramatic Maggid Speaks story kind of way.

Can't do it, I've thought. I try, but can I really open up and talk to G-d in that beautiful Breslov, Ushhpizin style? I just tried it and only got through a minute or so, maybe that minute was enough. Who knows?. It's hard to have The Talk with anyone, let alone G-d. Don't be common and let alone G-d. Badger him in that loving yet tough love way of Rav Levi Yitzchak MiBerditchev. Have chutzpah when you pray like Choni HaMe'agel (which got him chastised, but also got him what he asked for and what he and all those around him were thirsting for because it was what they needed).

Don't give up. That's what they say. Years ago someone shared their diary with me. In their journal this person prayed and pleaded with G-d, told the cold hard facts to Him in Scared Straight fashion. In the end this person's prayers were answered. If you really want someone to hear your story, or want someone to stop crying, or want someone to receive your love, whatever it may be - you have to do your thing more than once. Prayer one hundred and prayer one hundred and one times are different realities, set in different keys - let your key open the door to G-d's heart.

Everybody hurts and heals and is exiled and redeemed in their lifetime, in their way. Purim is a major player in this game.

Forever comes later, for now deal with now.

Give to the poor, give to your friends, and give to everyone.

Happiness is not so complicated that you need words for it – you’ll know it when you feel it. I, like you, want things though I may say I don’t – not with words, but with the way I live. And on Purim the façade falls down and we want what we want and there’s a chance for that to happen for me and there's a chance for that to happen for you.

I want to want what I want in a way that I and G-d and the world know I want it. And though I’m scared like a rabbit-rabbi, I do want to act on the good things I want. Purim is a holiday of doing, giving, moving forward; that may move dreams into reality.

Judaism is about many things, like life.

Know your holy day and know yourself.

Let your Megillah unfold.

May we accept one of the gifts of Purim when it comes our way on the holy day: Perspective.

Not everthing is complicated. Break down the complications on this miraculous day of acceptance, honesty, barrier breaking, getting what you pray for, truth.

Only once a year do we have this chance to be like Mordechai and Esther, people of deep faith in their hearts and on the ground.

Please see the day for the opportunities it offers. Don't blow it by forgetting what Rabeinu Efrayim wrote.

Question the you you are being and ask if its a mask.

Religion can be found in food and fun, though we tend to run from the physical in order to be spiritual. This is a day set aside for, more than usual, elevating what may seem mundane, what one could dismiss as inappropriate fun.

Stay with where you get to on Purim, and work for it to stay with you.

Tell yourself and everyone else that this is a day of asking and receiving, and of giving and growing - even though there may be a lack of knowing.

Understand as best you can the secrets of this day, and every day. You can get more than you might think you can.

Vent to G-d like it's Yom Kippur.

When you listen to the Megillah reading think about the Megillah of your life. Think how you've move from there to here over time, naturally, miraculously.

Xerox the day, then put it in your pocket.

Yearn.

Zestfully relish the day.

Like

Comment

Share

36, Feb 2014

I don't want life
I want twice life
New improved
Better than ever
And I am ready
to pledge and
then pay up
and put in a
double effort
and hope for
the same
from G-d.

From February 24, 2014

 FOR TODAY

Let's be honest and real,

in touch with what we feel,

Try less to seem correct,

work harder to connect

 Poem Alert

Devarim HaYotzim Min HaLev

How do I forget about friends?
I wonder which diary to hide in,
face book, blogspot, my little green book
till I remember an individual human heart open to mine
I go direct, hoping that the The Rabbis were right;
words that emenate from the heart enter into the heart

Rhythm
image
and voice
coalesce
in the best
of poetry.

(Adapted from pg. XIV of "The Poet's Dictionary, By William Packard)