[Poetry Chaikhana] Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel - God Pursues Me Everywhere

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A Poem sent in by Ivan by a great Jewish Mystic

 

 

Here's your Daily Poem from the Poetry Chaikhana --

 

 

 

 

 

God Pursues Me Everywhere

By Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel(1907 - 1972)

English version by Rabbi Zalman M. Schacter-Shalomi

God pursues me everywhere,Enmeshes me in glances,And blinds my sightless back like flaming sun.God, like a forest dense, pursues me.My lips are ever tender, mute, so amazed,So like a child lost in an ancient sacred grove.God pursues me like a silent shudder.I wish for tranquility and rest -- He urges; come!And see -- how visions walk like the homeless on the streets.My thoughts walk about like a vagrant mystery --Walks through the world's long corridor.At times I see God's featureless face hovering over me.God pursues me in the streetcars and cafesEvery shining apple is my crystal sphere to seeHow mysteries are born and vision came to be.- from "Human, God's Ineffable Name," by Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, freely rendered by Rabbi Zalman M. Schacter-Shalomi. Available from the Reb Zalman Legacy Project

/ Photo by lonelyhome /

 

 

 

 

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Thought for the Day:

We become what we love.Everything else is just movement.

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Suskera Solo Bamboo Flute

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Hi Alan -God pursues me everywhere,Enmeshes me in glances...This evening begins the observance of Tish B'av, the day when the Jewish people remember the terrible tragedies they have survived. A good opportunity to share this poem by Rabbi Heschel (in a translation by the wonderful modern-day teacher, Rabbi Zalman M. Schacter-Shalomi).And see -- how visions walk like the homeless on the streets.So often we want life to be easy, a series of triumphs, and that's natural. But we can't let our desire for that vision of life blind us to the terrible tragedies -- personal and planetary -- that also mark us. The human soul is an immense being, one that must be able to incorporate trauma as well as joy, and somehow make of those elements a great, complex work of art that is the evolving self. Many blessings.Ivan

 

 

 

 

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Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are 2002 - 2008 by Ivan M. Granger.All other material is copyrighted by the respective authors, translators and/or publishers.

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