As the festivals recede
may the transcendent light
of pure teshuvah remind us
of the resolves we made
which seal not only our fate
but our intimacy with the Divine,
our beloved
May all the contracted thoughts
and obstacles, all the aversions,
the wrestling and judgements cease,
our ratzon restored to its true strength.
We move to Bereishit
the creation story
and it will be new
as if never before heard.
New and yet familiar
as it resonates in memory;
the stretching forth of the earth upon the waters,
the separation of day from night,
the seventh day, our holy time of Shabbat.
We are the generations that
grapple with the letters
on the parchment, turn the scrolls,
and hold our Torah sacred,
chanting black fire upon white fire.
Hazak, hazak, v’nithazek
