I saw the ocean unfolding.
But really it was TorahThe Five Books of Moses, and the foundation of all of Jewish life and lore. The Torah is considered the heart and soul of the Jewish people, and study of the Torah is a high mitzvah. The Torah itself a scroll that is hand lettered on parchment, elaborately dressed and decorated, and stored in a decorative ark. It is chanted aloud on Mondays, Thursdays, and Shabbat, according to a yearly cycle. Sometimes "Torah" is used as a colloquial term for Jewish learning and narrative in general..
Its pages going on forever.
And the weight of its history like the finality of its black ink.
Darkly, pulling me under.
But there in the sea of story,
I found light in the spaces between the letters
And in the blank parchment, I swear, I could hear our ancestors breathing with me.
Parting the waters through their exhale
Extending the scroll through the letters they took in at the mouth.
I saw the Torah unfolding.
But really it was the ocean made by each of us.
Carrying the scroll through the waves of our breathing.