To Listen to the Voice of Reason Beyond Our Own

Reflection on the Haftorahs to Torah Portions Behar and Bechukotai

(Jeremiah 32:6-27 and  Jeremiah 16:19 to 17:14)

What choices do we make each day, each hour?

Do we realize, or only in hindsight,

That choices are not only lived but their footprints

Will remain in our journeys’ albums,

With consequences to change direction

To adjust our historical trajectory

As individuals and as nations.

Thus, the analogy of the tree by the waters,

Rather than in the desert, solely alone,

Separated from the Divine Life Force Source;

It is all in our grasp, if we reach outside ourselves,

Understanding beyond ourselves in stillness.

To listen to the voice of reason beyond our own;

It beckons us to drink of its sublime waters.