Yad: A Poem

An original poem inspired by Parashat Toledot, by BJ member Jenny Golub.

Hand.
Torah pointer, silver teardrop
stretched straight through history,
ending in a tiny fingertip.
A heart pulses in the silver finger
as it follows the chanted words.

Esau is screaming for his father’s blessing.
The teardrop impales the parchment,
descends through the clouds over Canaan
with a thundercrack of fury,
joined by a thousand weeping
dewdrops from heaven,
before it slides down Esau’s cheek. 

A Hebrew letter falls
through the hole in the sky:
ayin, for Esau,
meaning eye, fountain.
The letter falls over the edge of loss
and crashes like a splinter into his heart.
Well water sprays everywhere.

The silver hand touches his face.
The fingertip traces his words
as he chants, Have you only one blessing,
my father? Bless me, even me also,
O my father.

The finger’s heartbeat is as close
to him as his own, as close as the splinter.
The finger drives the ayin in deeper.

Vision. Wellspring.
Origin. Dew of heaven.
Bless me with your hand.