Keeper of community,
I beg of you,
hold my secret
like a newborn baby,
a bride on her wedding chair,
and sefer 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..
Guard my trust as you did in ancestors’ days
when Clouds of Glory visited our people
and neither kings nor empires could sever the bond of all life
that led us from the yoke of the narrow place.
that led us from the yoke of the narrow place.