New Poetic Commentary on Psalms 115

Here is a link to my new poetic commentary on Psalms 115, entitled,

Song of Glory and Love

The Seven Healing Trees

These are the words.

May a Jew write the book

of the seven trees of life

in any language at all?

Is truth a scandal?

Secrets of the roots of the earth,

say the wise,

may be written in passing languages,

but the secrets of the heart and mind of Abraham

are the secrets of the roots of heaven

and may be written

only in the language of the Holy Blessed One.

Rabbi Gamaliel says:

even secrets of the roots of earth,

besides in the divine language,

may be written only in Greek,

to honor the one who was weak

but whose conscience was meek

in the days after Noah's flood.

Fluency is a Torah tongue,

as when the world will become young,

and on the banks of the river shall grow,

on this side of the crystal river and on that,

in the Garden of God's Throne,

the Seven Healing Trees,

with twelve different fruits.

They shall purify the lip of the nations.

They shall sooth the stammering tongue.

Their leaves shall be like honey

for the little children

and like milk to the aged.

For the Seven Healing Trees

shall not know the sun,

for they are lit from within

by the seven spirits of God.

And the forms of their leaves

are the forms of the letters

of the language of God.

And the fragrances of their twelve fruits

are the fragrances of the twelve gates

of the Temple of God.

All eternal souls come from their roots.

Prophecy is their only feeling.

Meekly they receive their healing.

~ ~ ~

Copyright ©2010 Max Carl Kirk

From my site: The Poems of Max Carl Kirk

Ode To The Superintendent of Scales

The human body is a scale.
Its daily dance is the measure of Creation,
the level of limitation.
Therefore the body hungers for touch
in order to increase its measure,
though every touch overbalances the scales.
So the soul is teased to life and to hunger
for the hand of God to reach out,
reach in and balance the scales,
once, twice and forever.

~ ~ ~

Copyright ©2010 Max Carl Kirk

From my site: Poems of Max Carl Kirk
Find this and other poems there on the theme of the redemption of the world.....

Link to study on Mashiach's relationship to Israel being our salvation

Yehoshua asked, When the Scriptures call you elohim, why are you offended when I say that I am the Son of Elohim?

Read more

Prophecy and Wisdom

R' Avdimi from Chaifah said: From the day that the (first) Temple was destroyed, prophecy was taken from the prophets and given to sages. BT Bava Basra 12a

R' Yochanan said: From the day that the Holy Temple was destroyed, prophecy was taken from the prophets an given to deranged people and to children. BT Bava Basra 12b

Mar bar Rav Ashi heard a deranged person in the market saying that the head of the academy who was now being appointed in the city of Mechasya signed his name, Tavyumi, (Good Days). Although Mar bar Rav Ashi was not in position to be appointed head of the academy, he said to himself, "I sign my name, Tavymi, (Good Days)! From hearing this prophecy from the lips of a deranged person in the market Mar bar Rav Ashi then took confidence to initiate steps that did indeed lead to his becoming the head of the academy in the city of Mechasya at that time. (Ibid. See full account of this incident there.)

"At that time Yehoshua answered and said, I thank you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hid these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them unto children." Matthew 11:25

Since the wisdom of G-d is hidden from the rebel world and must be revealed by prophecy to begin with, it is evident that it is not truly a step backwards for prophecy to cease and wisdom to be revealed only at the extremes of society, either to the most esoteric tzaddikim or to the deranged and to children. For once the wisdom of G-d is revealed to the rebel world by prophecy, when it is then removed it becomes clearly evident that it is the nature of wisdom in the rebel world to be concealed. And if prophetic insight only remains available to those at the extremes of society, to each extreme end according to its nature, then it is all the more evident that wisdom is by nature concealed from the normal rebel society of the world.

This is a step forward for the world in general and for the world receiving understanding and for the reconciliation of the world, specifically. For if wisdom is concealed from the world but this fact is utterly concealed itself, how great is that concealment? But if wisdom is concealed from the world and this fact itself begins to be revealed, then hope has come into the world.

Proverbs 14:34

"Charity exalts a nation but kindness is sin for peoples."

In BT Bava Basra 10b we read that Rabban Yochanan be Zakkai asked his students what this verse means. Why is kindness called a sin? What is the reason for the contrast between a singular nation and plural nations or peoples?

Image by E|...| via Flickr

Rabbi Eliezer answered that the singular nation is Israel alone. And while kindness may sometimes be shown by gentiles, when they discover that they do not receive the reward for it that motivated them they may regret the act.

It becomes clear that King Solomon is saying that, without the redeeming word of G-d, given as covenant to Israel alone, human beings are still under the sentence of death and even should they do acts of kindness all their acts are still judged as sin, for they are acts done by enemies of their Creator and by rebels against the true G-d.

Inverted World

Image by occhichiusi via Flickr

Rav Yosef the son of Rabbi Yehoshua took ill and slipped into a coma.

When he revived, his father asked him, "What did you see?"

He answered him, "I saw an inverted world. The uppermost are below and the lowly are above."

His father said, "You have seen a well-ordered world."
(BT Bava Basra 10b)

"For the first shall be last and the last shall be first." (Luke 13:30)