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Son
I ask nothing
that Nature, in its grace, can’t
yield, and even in that I wish for a commonplace thing.
In my ignorance, I imagined poetry
was an end. I thought:
From the lines of the poem I’ll build a house
where I could abide when my heart felt bitter.
A great loneliness was my lot
until I grew to understand
that words, as beautiful and vital
as they may be how could I comfort them
in sorrow, or share their joy?
How could I cradle them gently in my arms
and bury my face in their warmth?
A son! If only I was granted a son!
The miracle of an innocent gaze, his tiny palm
supported in mine. For, his sheerest eyelash
would be purer than any rhyme!
My son. Mine. A dark toddler.
A complete human, with his own reason and will.
My finest love I will devote to him!
We’ll sit together in the park,
listen to the hum of grasses striving to rise.
Look, I’ll whisper. Here we are
and all things are beautiful and deserving.
I won’t contemplate the days yet to come,
which of time’s perils or riches
will be his share.
I won’t venture to guess which trains he will take
in which country he will find his peace
if he will fight with the blood of his heart
for lofty principles of justice and beauty
or if he’ll be infected with a crude lust for possessions
if his fate will grant him true love, a home,
or if he will be killed in a war.
I’ll wait until he falls asleep, put my ear
to his crib, and if it happens that from his sleep
he utters some prosaic word,
I’ll then heave my chest
with the pride of a young father, boasting:
See how lovely is my offspring,
my proxy upon the earth.
Is there something finer than this bridge
that Nature has unfolded for me
to delude, if only momentarily, the void?
Tamir Greenberg
This poem titled, ‘Son’ by the contemporary Israeli architect, lecturer, and decorated poet, Tamir Greenberg, resonated as we bring to the close another year of our Jewish lives and mark significant lifecycle moments.
100 years ago, what were the dreams, the hopes and prayers of Jack’s parents. Helga and Jack, what were your’s, 60 years ago, before Nicole’s birth and before the birth of each of your daughters.
Such are the adventures of life … and then there are those lives that are quite extraordinary.
Our Torah reading gifted a verse (Deut 29:15) so poignant, Jack.
כִּֽי־אַתֶּ֣ם יְדַעְתֶּ֔ם אֵ֥ת אֲשֶׁר־יָשַׁ֖בְנוּ בְּאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרָ֑יִם וְאֵ֧ת אֲשֶׁר־עָבַ֛רְנוּ בְּקֶ֥רֶב הַגּוֹיִ֖ם אֲשֶׁ֥ר עֲבַרְתֶּֽם׃
Well you know that we dwelt in the land of Egypt and that we passed through the midst of various other nations.
Jack your journeys, thankfully the majority in times of peace, yet significant ones during war and conflict, began in Egypt and passed through so many nations — have you ever stopped to count!? It led you to be a multi-linguist and perhaps the cerebral stimulus for me to witness you singing in at least five languages this year, to an entertainer at Sandringham, who ended up being entertained by you.
The service that you and generations of soldiers gave is sadly universal and it seems timeless. The Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible, contains its gibborim, its military heroes, Deborah, Yael and Judith, Joshua, David and Judah. Humanity has consistently improved its methods of waging war, yet not mastered peace.
Whilst we do not have in our hands the ability to single-handedly change tides of history, small moments such as our celebration this morning can be the spark of inspiration to lead one’s life such that what we gift to the next generation is the ability to dream and imagine.
This morning, I was able to witness the livestream from Kol HaNeshama Congregation in Jerusalem and experience my dearest friend and colleague, Rabbi Oded Mazor singing with his daughter, Rotem, as she became Bat Mitzvah. As well as chanting beautifully the Torah portion and it was the whole Sidrah with seven aliyot and the haftarah and more, Rotem sang with Oded in Hebrew, Arabic and English, as the Emeritus Rabbi called it, Yonatan Lennon’s ‘Imagine.’
In the hardest of times, our greatest gift to the next generation is the freedom to imagine, to dream and to hope. Both for a child and its parent. Living in the Natural World and the Human World, may we always seek the wise word, a nurturing nature and enthusiastic encouragement, and then to see what we may achieve in Nature.
