On the Murmurations of Starlings

#parshatvayishlach

Greetings,

Events around us seem to pass so quickly these past months. As news stories tumble into one another, whether they be about the war in Gaza, the war in Syria or Lebanon or a constant stream of politics, they leave us little time to process before the next wave of stories emerge.

The first poem in this post is about the constant bombarment of information.

The second post, for Parshat Yishlach, is a repost from a few years ago.

May one of these many stories that fly over our screens bring a return of the hostages and a return to peace.

Shabbat Shalom,

Leann

PS

Please do view the video on the murmuration of starlings. It is a wonder.

---

On the Murmurations of Starlings

Words travel across white cloud screens

like swift starlings who soar on autumn days.

How quickly they swoop together on the winds,

as over our heads they fly high,

the dance of information.

Before we have a chance to process their path,

their destination unclear,

the wind has changed and they are off,

soaring,

their messages never reach the ground,

leaving emptied echoes of their sleek selves

before the next flock emerges.

We look down at our hands,

upon the holy keyboard they rest

and see they have sprouted feathers.

---

Dance of the Starlings by Claire Droppert as found on YouTube

---

REPOST. December, 2022

The Silence of a Father: The Voice of a Daughter

Dear Readers,

I struggled mightily with this post. The women of Torah who are raped and abused never speak. and when I read about women whose voices are absent, I like to try to give them a voice, if only for a few moments.

In Parshat Vayishlach, we get an introduction to Jacob's only daughter, Dinah. Dinah and her family, recently arrived in their new home and Dinah went out to interact with the other young women in the area. She left the tent unattended, and on her expedition she was accosted and raped by a young man. The young man subsequently falls in love with Dinah and wishes to marry her. His father approaches Dinah's brothers who devise a scheme to put all of the men of the town in a vulnerable position and they then go do a revenge killing by slaughtering the males of the town, including the young rapist/suitor and his family.

This poem reviews just one small corner of the Parsha. After Jacob is informed of the rape of his daughter, the following sentence is written:

Jacob heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah; but since his sons were in the field with his cattle, Jacob kept silent until they came home. Genesis 34:5

Jacob did not cry out, he did not protest, he did not weep; he sat silently and waited.

As we learn when we study Breisheet, Jacob had favorite wives and probably had favorite children. Dinah was not only merely the child of Leah, the wife not favored, but she was a female child and so held a different status. Not only did Jacob not react to his daughter's rape, he was angry with the response of Dinah's brothers violent response to the event. His eventual response to his sons spoke not about his daughter, but about his own embarrassment at his son's behavior.

This series of poems attempts to convey the silence of the moment in an imagined meeting of Jacob and Dinah.

Parshat Vayishlach is about rape and violence. I cannot put myself in Dinah's spot, but I have chosen to give her courage and vision and a voice on this page, for don't the violated deserve a voice?

Leann

---

The Silence of a Father: The Voice of a Daughter

1. There is

A time for silence and a time for speaking;

A time for loving and a time for hating; A time for war and a time for peace.

KOHELET: 3:6-8

*****

2. THE SILENCE AFTER THE RAPE

Following the rape of the daughter

the silence of the father

echoes through the empty home.

We sit dumbfounded

and wait for a response;

for something,

anything.

A father's angry cry that pierces

the

silence.

A protest,

a threat

a lament,

but the air is filled with

only

cold stillness.

If only one word had escaped

a word of comfort,

perhaps,

 we could uncover what lies beneath

the heavy mantle of silence.

The father,

crosses his arms over his chest;

gazes

through the doorway

absently

tapping his foot,

staring vacantly.

His silence fills the room.

As he continues to stare,

it is up to us fill in the gaps

for his daughter no longer

expects.

She sits silently.

**********

3. Dinah Reflects Inwardly

"Where is your voice, my father?

“If we are defined by our words

then how much more so are we defined by our silences?"

*************

4. Dinah's Voice

                                                                                                                            כְּשֽׁוֹשַׁנָּה֙ בֵּ֣ין הַחוֹחִ֔ים

׃

I am like a lily among thorns.*

                 I am the daughter of my mother,

Leah,

who sees the world differently.

My grandmother and great grandmother

found their own paths.

We can see the world beyond the tent and ache

to touch it,

to breathe it in.

I am a girl,

beloved my mother,

watched over by my brothers

and like my young uncle,

I am also a dreamer.

Father,

Hear my voice in the silence of the room.

It is bruised and cracked,

like my lips,

but it is not broken.

I am more than a rape.

I am better than the object of violence.

I am greater than seduction.

My name is Dinah,

Do not judge me.

Above all, do not pity me

for, like my mother,

 I am a survivor.

Listen.

Within the stillness of the room,

it is not my father’s voice you hear,

but if you listen carefully

you will hear the sound

of a daughter rising

and leaving the room,

action more powerful than words

---

וְיַעֲקֹ֣ב שָׁמַ֗ע כִּ֤י טִמֵּא֙ אֶת־דִּינָ֣ה בִתּ֔וֹ וּבָנָ֛יו הָי֥וּ אֶת־מִקְנֵ֖הוּ בַּשָּׂדֶ֑ה וְהֶחֱרִ֥שׁ יַעֲקֹ֖ב עַד־בֹּאָֽם׃

Jacob heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah; but since his sons were in the field with his cattle, Jacob kept silent until they came home.

Genesis 34:5