Where Are You?

Selections from In the Beginning/B’re-sheet Genesis 1.1-3.21

In-the-beginning creates El (God and Goddess)
The heavens and the earth

Let there be light and separate it from darkness
All living creatures be fertile and increase

Let’s make humanity in Eloheem’s (in the Mother’s) image
Creating male and female with plants for food

This is the story of heaven and earth:
The seventh day, we declare it holy

YHVH (God) forms humans from dust of the earth (adamah)
Breathing into our nostrils the breath of life

We are living beings!
(We awaken in the palace of existence)

A garden is planted in Eden in the east
With a tree of life in the middle
Also knowledge of right and wrong (duality)

A river from Eden waters the garden,
A land of gold and lapis lazuli

We’re free to eat from every tree in the garden
If we eat the fruit of duality, we get both life and death

All alone? Let’s make a helpmate, birds and animals too.
A deep sleep, now fashion woman, now fashion man

Bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh (Wow!)
Naked and unself-conscious, two become one flesh

For clothing God has made us garments of skin (of light)
(The entire universe is our home)

God is calling to us now, saying “Where are you?”
(You have only limited time here.
What are you doing with your life?)

Eleven Treasures – A Vast Wealth Within

Selections from Devarim/Words in V'zot Habracha Deuteronomy 33.1-34.12

God comes from Sinai with lightning flashing (revelation)
The tribes are assembling (Draw forth these treasures)

Let Ruben live and not die. Let his people be numbered
(Ruben is our immortality. Each day we dedicate – counts!)

Hear the voice of (King) Judah (Genuine prayer enthrones us)
Levi, your breastplate is filled with faith, your prayer
A sweet aroma (Levi is the sincere devotee in us each)

O Benjamin, you dwell forever between the shoulders of God
(God dwells between our shoulders in our Benjamin heart)

For you Joseph, the dew of heaven, the best of worlds
Everywhere treasures in the everlasting hills
(Joseph, our foundation stone, is the illumined sage within)

Rejoice Zebulon on your journeys and Issachar in your tents
Sacrifice in the mountains. Draw riches from the infinite depths
(Issachar charts the heavens. Zeb gets wealth from the seas)

Gad, a mighty one of valor, fulfills God’s design
Blesses and enlarges us. Gad is a fierce lion protector
Tearing arm and scalp, expanding east. (Gad is our integrity)

Dan, a lion’s whelp springing forth (a power goddess)
(Eden, headwaters of the Jordon is Dan, a fountain of Torah)

Naftali is the land of opportunity awash in God’s blessings
Everywhere gold (compassion), everywhere wisdom
(Naftali is the wish-fulfilling gem)

Most blessed is Asher who dips his foot in oil, favorite of his kin
Secure all his days. (Generosity, meditation, silent service --
Asher is our children and this is our wealth)

The ancient one is our refuge. Be happy, O’ YisraEL
Ye disciples of holiness, We are supported by everlasting arms

Be fearless now. Ascend the heights
And view the lands that God is giving you