NIGHT PILGRIMAGE

BS"D


Melodic Arabic trembles above the din of Jews praising, begging, thanking.



G@d took our holy temple & its sacred mountain away from us because we committed sinat chinam, needless hatred, against other Jews...
...when will the Messiah come?

I wade through supplicating Jewish women to lay my palm flat on the soft warm stone & pour my soul out on these ancient rocks, washing them with my gratitude, my fear, my desire.

A bridal couple arrives amid flashes of light - she a silver shimmer in the night. The joy rising from the horas spinning on the stone almost drown out the voice of the muezzin. Almost.

Pebbly shadows creep up the middle of the windmill. I lean in the corner of the park facing this marvel. I recline & a group of Arab boys hoot through. I rise. Feel the dew on my books & inhale the rosemary, jasmine & honeysuckle. Heady. Heavy, Penetrating the close air.



Throughout this day I have encountered signals that I must act. After absorbing & processing my latest meeting with Secret Sofer, which will take some time & more letter-forming, I wander the familiar streets of the Old City's Jewish Quarter. Everywhere I turn I see the same word:

Az
Now

Everywhere I turned I saw different colours, textures & surfaces all branded with this word in Ashkenazi ketav stam. From the narrow corridors within the old walls all the way to the park across the valley & to the south.



May G@d help me be truly present in each moment.


[Addendum: or perhaps אז is the roshei teyvot, an acronym, for or zaru'a...scattered light. A sewn seed of light.
Hat tip: Simon]




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