Mystery Rule
We were discussing the mystery rule of Torah
as if –
when it was understood
we might understand
it all —
The chok of the little red cow –
how what purifies can corrupt
what corrupts might purify.
We came to rest in a place none of us imagined before
a sense of redemption through learning
through guidebook Torah in a way suggested by
the Sefas Emes —
Every soul has a portion
in the Torah
a dot
or a point
that is
incorruptable.
At that moment we had become a letter of the guidebook
a dot a vowel a dia-critical a mark on the page
we became a letter of the text –
we arrived at partial
opening onto the whole.
jsg, usa
Small alef; poetry Chukkat
Maqam Hoseini
D [1/2] E flat [1] F [1] G
Every portion has a musical figure,
A maqam
Arabic cognate to maqom
Signifying Place.