Shifting Winds
- Leann Shamash
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
#naso #nazir #bracha #blessings #blessing #birkathakohanim #sotah #bamidbar #bookofnumbers #parshapoetry #wordshavewings
This week, in the strange Parshat Naso, we read about the Sotah and the Nazir and then the parsha concludes, as though with an afterthought, with the immensely important priestly blessing.
יְבָרֶכְךָ֥ יְהֹוָ֖ה וְיִשְׁמְרֶֽךָ׃ {ס}
יָאֵ֨ר יְהֹוָ֧ה ׀ פָּנָ֛יו אֵלֶ֖יךָ וִֽיחֻנֶּֽךָּ׃ {ס}
יִשָּׂ֨א יְהֹוָ֤ה ׀ פָּנָיו֙ אֵלֶ֔יךָ וְיָשֵׂ֥ם לְךָ֖ שָׁלֽוֹם׃ {ס}
GOD bless you and protect you!
GOD deal kindly and graciously with you!
GOD bestow favor upon you and grant you peace!
I often think about blessings and how they impact upon us. What do we do with these blessings that are given to us? Do they envelop us in a cloak of warmth and safety? Are they a protection against harm or a conduit of Gd's care through the fingers of the Kohanim?
Blessings. Are the magical talismans or words that lead to intentions and actions?
On this blog I like to try to keep things positive, but this week I try to connect this idea of blessings that come from the priestly blessing with memories of my dad, who experienced life through the lens of his life before and after the Holocaust. I don't write this with joy in my heart; rather it is my father's words that I am channeling.
Wishing you a Shabbat Shalom and many blessings which you hold onto....
Leann
Hold onto that blessing.
Don’t let it go
because the winds are rising.
They scatter yesterday’s trash on the street.
It seems that it is the same trash that seems to reappear
whenever the winds blow; whether they be
southern winds, or northern gales, or westerlies.
It doesn’t much matter where they are coming from;
I hear the wind’s insistent howl,
which raises the hairs on my arms.
I wish the winds would dissipate and good weather would return,
So I imagine Your blessing and its power to shield,
but, you know, sometimes winds are impossible to forecast,
Then again, some winds are just so predictable,
and yet, we are somehow caught by surprise
again.
My father was a wind prognosticator.
He had seen winds change and he always warned that shifting winds
are cyclical;
appearing just when you had made outdoor plans.
So, catch that blessing.
Grip it, grasp it,
put it in a box for later,
because even gentle breezes can grow to hurricanes.
Hold it tight, because when you sniff the breeze, you can smell the storm.
An afterthought: Don't just listen to the weather forecast; do the weather forecast.
Other Posts in Words Have Wings on Parshat Naso: (I've written a lot about this Parsha.)
Posted in 2021, this poem describes people receiving and people bestowing the priestly blessing.
To Be or Not To Be. Posted in 2023, this is a poem for the Talmudic volume on the Nazir, a person who vows not cut his/her hair. It is part of my series of poems for each of the Masechtot for the Daf Yomi cycle. This poem speaks about the commitment one makes when declaring oneself a Nazir.
Hair- Posted in 2023, this poem considers hair, which is mentioned twice in Parshat Naso, both for the Sotah and the Nazir. I'd say that this is a whimsical poem.
To the Gershonites and Merarites- Posted in 2022, this poem considers the detailed work of the Gershonites, Merarites and Kohatites, whose work it was to move the Mishkan (tabernacle) from place to place. It asks the reader to consider the small actions, often unappreciated, that these Levites completed.
5000- A Reflection on the Sotah- Posted in 2023, this post contains two poems. One considers the jealous husband and the other reflects on a marriage. It is part of my series of poems for each of the Masechtot for the Daf Yomi cycle.
Other posts on my dad, Saul Gershkowitz, Z"L.
וְשָׂמ֥וּ אֶת־שְׁמִ֖י עַל־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וַאֲנִ֖י
אֲבָרְכֵֽם׃ {ס
Thus they shall link My name with the people of Israel, and I will bless them. Numbers 6:27
Your imagery is so beautiful and right on target. May we all pray for the winds to shift back in a better direction.