Second Cup Of Wine

We are about to drink that second cup of wine, 

The beginning of the Maggid section of the Seder,

As we tell the story 

Of how we left the narrow place.

In the Talmud, Rabbi Hanina says that

Human versions of God’s vast intent are as unripened fruit,

Filled with potential,

Perceived completely only by God.  

Hanina says that the unripened fruit of prophecy is a dream.

Which is kind of cool. 

So I speculate,

As grapes become wine

So does the unripened fruit of truth 

Become the story.

We tell tales with beginnings, middles and ends

Around our seder table, 

And our mythology tells us who we were

Which helps a lot,

Almost as much as that second cup of wine.

So

Blessed Holy Wholeness

We give thanks 

For the fruits of the earth

And our minds.

Amen

This Day

Blessed Yah, Creator, Created, Creating...

We pray for change and hope,

For ourselves and the world:

Instead of anger, we choose kindness.

Instead of revenge, we choose justice.

Instead of resentment, we choose empathy.

Instead of work, we choose rest.

Instead of ideology, we choose compromise.

Instead of destruction, we choose community.

Instead of fear, we choose endurance.

Instead of acquiescence, we choose resistance. 

Instead of invective, we choose prayer.

Instead of violence, we choose peace.

Blessed Yah, Creator, Created, Creating...

We give thanks for this day of change and hope.

And let us say, Amen.

Tree in a Rain Forest: A Guided Meditation

Breathing In 

Breathing out. 

Every breath a prayer. 

See yourself

In a forest,

A dark and deeply green

Rain forest.

The air is moist and thick but cool,

The leaves drip water. 

See the fungus attached to fallen trees, then

Look for the bugs

And small animals,

And the seedlings atop the

Rotting wet wood that’s 

Dead but vibrant with 

Bug homes 

And plant nurseries. 

The ground is real life mulch,

Squishy under your feet.

Walk. 

Look around and select a tree, 

This will be your tree. 

You know your tree

And it knows you.

Examine your tree

From top to bottom.

Is it taller than you?

Old or a sapling?

What do its leaves look like?

Stand next to your tree and 

Say hello. 

Breathe it in.  

Breathe in its respiration:

Creativity and oxygen,

Growth and carbon dioxide—

Every breath is a prayer. 

Sit down and lean against your tree.

The forest floor is moist and your ass gets wet

As you reach back to touch the tree with your hands,

Gently.

Feel the  bark.

Can you sense the movement inside?

The leaves and the roots 

Feeding and watering the entire structure. 

Isn’t it magnificent?

Now listen to your tree: 

Shema. 

What do you hear?

The drizzling rain 

Passes through the forest canopy and

Falls on your face, your lap, your hiking boots. 

It’s time to go home. 

Taste the wet air that gives your tree its life.

Breath of the Universe,

We see and smell and touch and taste and listen and feel

And pray with the trees,

And we give thanks. 

Breathe in.

Breathe out. 

Amen.  

Blessing For A Tree In The City

Illustration by Steve Silbert

In front of my window on the first floor 

Lives a tree

I think of as mine

Though of course it belongs to the City.

My favorite event of the year is that warm day in April 

When the dark red buds of my tree

And most of the trees on the block

Break open in small lime green leaves.  Whoosh!

Last fall the City put a fence around

My tree’s tiny plot of land

So maybe the dogs would stop pissing on it. 

I don’t think it worked.

Remember that summer

When a flock of green parrots

Flew over from Greenwood Cemetery 

And hung out in my green tree for days?

A couple of years ago some of the branches broke off in a storm. 

The City left them in the street

To rot for weeks

And then they came and sawed off more branches.

I’m worried about my tree.

I’m worried that my tree is too successful,

That the roots will start to break up the sidewalk 

And then the City will cut it down.

Holy Wholeness,

I give thanks for the way my tree cleans our air.

I give thanks for the way my tree shades my apartment.

I give thanks for the home my tree provides to the block’s squirrels and birds. 

I give thanks for my tree’s undressed beauty in the winter.

May my tenacious tree live its fullest life! 

May it never be lonely,

All the city trees reaching out with their roots, 

Chatting with friends.

And I bless the City for its imperfect caretaking. 

Amen​.

We Will Remember: An Indictment

 

For the sins against  One-ness,

Prepare yourself to be weighed and found wanting.

You reveled in how you broke our connection to the Whole,

You are appalling!

You attacked our hearts and

You used our fear against us.

These are sins against God,

The ones that break true connection,

And it is known who and what you are.

Alas, our anger,

Is fierce

And deserved.

You were willfully foolish.

You were cruel and used hate as a tool.

In your greed and stupidity,

You ignored the degradation of our planet

And the answers of science

And look where it has led us!

Species and forests disappear.

Old people and the poor are sacrificed.

Essential workers, disproportionately People of Color,

Are used and discarded

And die in disproportionate numbers.

Racism is celebrated,

Misogyny extolled.

Sexual and gender diversity denied.

Where is normal human empathy?

We grieve for the sick and the dead,

We grieve for the murdered and the neglected,

We grieve for all we have lost and will lose.

We remember

Those who died by virus

And those who died by police,

Those who died by gas

And those who died by suffocation,

Those who died by infection

And those who died from neglect.

We remember

Those who were shot in trenches

And those who died alone in the ICU,

Those who died by starvation

And those who were shot in the back,

Those who died with a knee on their neck

And those who died hanging from a tree.

And because we remember

We resist our privilege if we have it;

We resist racism when we see it;

We resist cruelty and stupidity when they beckon;

We resist lethargy and despair when it calls us.

We will remember you. 

We remember and you will not be allowed to flourish. 

We remember and promise to change

Ourselves and the world,

Honoring compassion and empathy;

Honoring the rule of law;

Honoring truth. 

Amen