Category: poetry

The Drash Not Given: “Emissary” and the Akedah

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Introduction

I know that it’s a little peculiar to insist on linking the Akedah, the “binding of Isaac,” with “Emissary,” the pilot episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. I feel I should begin these remarks by saying that. In addition, I am fully aware that the wormhole entities, AKA “the Prophets of Bajor,” to whom we are introduced in this television series are not meant to reflect the God of Genesis. Nonetheless, I am absolutely convinced that Deep Space Nine‘s “Emissary” episode has more to teach about the Akedah, about God-human communication and about teshuvah [“repentance” or “return”].
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“Look Behind You”: Akedah 5770

In their great love my parents saved me from disappointment,
from pain and sorrow. Now I am left with their savings
plan the pain I would like to spare my children.
How all those savings have piled up on me!

The 20th Century Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai wrote a number of poems that clearly reference the Akedah [Binding of Isaac, Genesis/Breishit 22]. But I think this section of “My Parents’ Lodging Place” — from the collection, Open Closed Open — reaches the heart of the Akedah as well as anything he – or anyone else – has written about it… even if he didn’t plan it that way.
Continue reading “Look Behind You”: Akedah 5770

Lodging: Graveyard and Desert

One of the very few endnotes to Open Closed Open, the English translation of Yehuda Amichai’s Patuach Sagur Patuach, is provided for “My Parents’ Lodging Place.” It reads

[Moses] Ibn Ezra (c. 1055-1135): one of the leading poets of the Golden Age of Hebrew Poetry in Spain. The phrase “lodging place” in Ibn Ezra’s poem “My Thoughts Awoke Me” alludes to Jeremiah’s yearned-for refuge, a “lodging place in the wilderness” (Jeremiah 9:2)** — p.177 Open Closed Open (citation)

**For more on verse numbering, see below.
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Chant it everyday, Chant it everyday

“Rabbi Akiva said: ‘Chant it every day, Chant it every day’” (San 99b). This blog invites you to consider some electronic and print “chants” as part of a daily or occasional practice of learning:
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Balak: Language and Translation

When Balaam speaks poetry given him by God — 23:7, 23:18, 24:3, 24:15 — the text says he “va-yisa m’shalo.” Alter and JPS (and The Women’s Commentary) say, “took up his theme.” Stone has it, “declaimed his parable.” Fox says, “took up his discourse.” (For references, see Source Materials.)
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Korach: Great Source(s)

This portion (Bamidbar/Numbers 16:1 – 18:32) highlights a wilderness leadership challenge, led by Moses’ cousin Korach. Some of its power comes from the community dealing with God’s pronouncement in the previous portion (Shelach):

“But your carcasses shall drop in this wilderness, while your children roam the wilderness for forty years, suffering for your faithlessness, until the last of your carcasses is down in the wilderness.” Continue reading Korach: Great Source(s)