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Rereading and Rethinking Exodus toward Joint Liberation plus more Torah, prayer, and Jewish miscellany

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havel

Breishit: Something to Notice

Posted on October 8, 2009 by vspatz in Breishit, Ecclesiates, Sukkot and tagged Breishit, havel, Notice, WeeklyTorah.

The word “havel” — vapor, mist, steam; futility, vanity — features prominently in the book of Ecclesiates/Kohelet, beginning with the second verse:

The words of Koheleth son of David, king in Jerusalem.
Utter futility! [havel havalim] — said Koheleth —
Utter futility! [havel havalim] All is futile! [ha-kol havel]Continue Reading

Genesis Poems

Posted on October 31, 2008 by vspatz in Torah and tagged havel, midrash, Ostriker, Torah, Yehuda Amichai.

Cain Discovers Infinity

One red rage roaring
boiling blood
a brother bleeding
one letter in the name of God losing ink
the earth swallows the ink
the bloods of countless storied untold
Continue Reading

Alone in the Sukkah

Posted on October 31, 2008 by vspatz in holidays, Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) and tagged folk songs, havel, holidays, Kohelet, Sukkah.

Alone in the sukkah, Kohelet* and me

“Havel, havalim,” he tells my coffee’s rising steam.

Yes, “vapor, all is vapor,” I’m willing to agree.

Lifebreath can’t remain for long

and the future can’t be told.

But does that make life “futile”

or just make it hard to hold.
Continue Reading