Usually Parshat Breisheet, the first parsha of the year, is a joy to write about. The wonder of new beginnings is where I ordinarily would begin, but this year cries out for something different. Contained in Breisheet is the story of the serpent, the first kernels of evil as Cain murders his brother.
This is a parsha where interesting communication takes place. After eating from the Tree of Knowledge, God searches for Adam and Eve in the garden and uses the unusual word Ayekah, "Where are you?" Later, following the murder of Abel by his brother Cain, God calls to Cain to say that Abel's blood calls to him from the earth.
These vivid references to blame and sin, bordered gardens, hiding and expulsions, plus the stark image of blood crying from the earth are the very real and ongoing nightmares this week, so I have taken the liberty of combining these themes to created this poem....this lament....
Someday, when I look back on this poem, I will remember this as a time when the Jewish people's worst nightmares reappeared in our ongoing history.
I write this with unspeakable sorrow for all the murdered and desecrated of God's beautiful creations.
Please, let us be there for one another. Let us find the wisdom of Solomon and the strength of what is right and good; not evil.
Shabbat Shalom,
Leann
Ayeka? Where Are You?
Sounds rise from The Leafy Garden,
whose borders extend from bruised
purple mountains to a sea
crusted
with tears.
Cries, not from the jackal howling,
not from the cranes who fly
wide winged above,
but from a child
alone,
soaked in urine,
whose dazed
eyes
blink at the
bluest of
skies,
as her tiny hands
reach.
up.
up.
The air,
pierced with her cries
echoes with
Ayeka
Where are you?
Between eucalyptus trees
in this autumn garden
a paradise of people,
leap swiftly
as hunted gazelles.
In and out they weave;
the hunter and the hunted.
Bullets
whiz around them,
through them.
Their blood soaks the ground and calls out
Ayeka?
Where are you?
Ayeka, cry out
the parents
the siblings,
the children,
the friends.
The friends.
Ayeka
in disbelief
weep
the
Jews.
Their voices reach out
but perhaps it is not loud enough?
?אַיֶּֽכָּה
Where are you?
The Torahs tremble in the ark,
their silver bells tinkle ...
Our blood calls up from the ground
soaked now for generations.
Why, my brother, why?
What is this thirst for Jewish blood?
Ayecka?
Where are You?
אַיֶּֽכָּה
וַיִּקְרָ֛א יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהִ֖ים אֶל־הָֽאָדָ֑ם וַיֹּ֥אמֶר ל֖וֹ אַיֶּֽכָּה׃
God יהוה called out to the Human and said to him, “Where are you?”
Genesis 3:9 וַיֹּ֖אמֶר מֶ֣ה עָשִׂ֑יתָ ק֚וֹל דְּמֵ֣י אָחִ֔יךָ צֹעֲקִ֥ים אֵלַ֖י מִן־הָֽאֲדָמָֽה׃ “What have you done? Hark, your brother’s blood cries
out to Me from the ground Genesis 4:10
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