#breisheet #parshatmiketz #chanukah #wordshavewings #parshapoetry #Joseph #dreams #listening #payattention
Dear Readers,
Welcome to the 500th post of Words Have Wings. It's been almost five years since I began this blog. At the beginning I tried to give you, the reader, my take on saying kaddish for my mom, but within a few months Words Have Wings turned into my attempt to understand the many gems that the parsha offers us each week.
I have always wanted Words Have Wings to be a place where my voice, the voice of an ordinary learner include my own take on Torah, among the voices of so many others who seek understanding.
As a person who retired from work about seven years ago, Words Have Wings has given my week structure and has enabled me to study and work to create something new each week. It gives me a chance to integrate various images that I have taken over the years and occasionally, even to add music to a post. (If I could I would add dancing as well, but you can't do that on the pages of a blog!)
When sometimes I hear from some of you and you have told me how a particular post has impacted upon you, it has given me the drive to keep this little blog going. I thank you for each time you open up a post from Words Have Wings. I recognize that all of you are very busy and inundated with things to read, so any time you spend on these posts is appreciated.
Words Have Wings has been a gift to me. Thank you for being the wrapping paper and the bow on top.
Leann
Just a little bit about this poem for Parshat Mikeitz. I learned something this week about Yosef that stayed with me as a life lesson. On last week's podcast of Matan's Women Talk Torah, Dr. Tanya White and Dr. Yosefa (Fogel) Wruble explored Joseph's legacy as a hero . As just one small part of the podcast, Dr. White spoke about Yosef's ability to interpret dreams. Yosef gives credit to Gd for his ability to read dreams, but in addition, Yosef has the special gift of being an excellent listener. When the baker and the cupbearer and Pharaoh are in their own pits of great vulnerability, they needed someone to listen to them. Just unburdening themselves of their worries and fears to someone who would really listen to them must have helped them in some way.
All of us, no matter our age, our station in life and our point of view, carry stories including deep fears and dreams that weigh down our hearts. Sometimes these stories just need to be heard by someone who listens carefully. The listener does not have to make the dreamer's story their own, they just need to witness with sincerity. This ability to listen elevates the dreamer and the listener. Perhaps it even elevates the dream.
So, perhaps we can all be Joseph using strong and sincere listening skills. We don't have to go far; a telephone will do, or the person you visit at a nursing home, or your friend, or the person sitting in the back row at synagogue.
May we all use our ears to listen deeply, our eyes to seek wisdom and be of a wise heart, like Yosef.
Collected Dreams
We are just open books of collected dreams,
an unfinished accumulation of
combined texts,
rippled images from this morning and maybe fifty years ago;
ripped tape still adhered on corners,
surrounded by forgotten voices
of supermarket clerks, AM radio;
and your mother's voice,
calling you to come home for dinner.
They emanate brightly from muddied middle margins
waiting to be read.
Listen.
Look.
Someone waits in the wings
Sometimes he wears a Coat of Many Colors,
his powers borrowed from forces well Beyond the Rainbow
and occasionally she wears a sweatshirt and jeans
and a pair of 2x reading glasses
so she can view the dream better.
They read your dream like an open book,
scuba diving deep into your confused heart,
witnessing the uncertainty that thrives there.
They have the power to help you recognize;
to identify the disembodied voices,
holding your hand as you gather the colors, one by one,
encouraging you to order the words as you embrace disjointed messages.
When you are finished you both understand
that
together
you have written the end of the dream
and history as you imagined it
will never be the same.
We can all be a little like Joseph.
This is one of my doodles from my Torah Doodles class. I thought that it embodied the confusion of a dream.
Other Posts in Words Have Wings on Parshat Mikeitz
https://www.wordshavewings.net/post/he-dreams-of-papyrus. HE DREAMS OF PAPYRUS
https://www.wordshavewings.net/post/a-prayer-for-wisdom PRAYER FOR WISDOM
https://www.wordshavewings.net/post/broken-dreams BROKEN DREAMS
One of my favorite pieces of music about listening.
Wow, Leann! Mazel tov on your 500th post. These posts bring me so much joy. It's lovely to hear what the blog has given you over the last 5 years. To the next 500!
Congratulations on your 500th poem, Lee! Your words have the incredible power to inspire, teach, and sometimes make us question our very thoughts. Keep those words flowing.
Just beautiful, Leann. And timeless and contemporary. I have to dispute two elements from your description before the poem. You are a scholar. Maybe not in the tradional sense, but you study and you teach and spread your scholarship. And you are an amazing poet. Your imagery never fails to draw me in and have me nodding in agreement and appreciation. Thank you for sharing all of this with us.