We have a new language,
Have taken new names.
Words resound
Through utterances renewed.
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Draped open, the 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. frames,Â
Our bedposts
Their cyclical story revealing
A midrashA rabbinic method of interpreting text, often through the telling of stories. made flesh.
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Light sustained on high
Arrives wrapped in shining new letters,
Dripping sweet fullness
Into our mouths.
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Wherever tongues trace,
Symbols uncover.
Through ribbons of words
Bodies are bound.
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Whenever words arise,
Language lies loosened.Â
With vowels, our new clothesÂ
Finding consonants, our thighs.
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The corporal ever hungry,
Sustenance sucks on sound,
Nourishment drawn from every tone.
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Creation comes
Before dawn,
A deep tuning,
Fingers conducting a chorus.
Bodies of work orchestrated.
Recited; remaking.
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This the song,
A not-so-familiar refrain.
Here, in the music,
Of the well-fed feeding.
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