Friday, November 23, 2007

Wrestling with the Angel...in Haiku, of course


Vayishlach, this week's Torah portion...briefly...

Jacob stays alone
sends the family on ahead
scared of Esau's wrath

By himself at night
he wrestles with an angel
or was it a man?

The man could not win
so he pulled the leg muscle
and he cried "uncle"

but Jacob was wise
"I can't let you go until
a blessing you give."

and so he was blessed
his name changed to Israel
means "wrestler with God."

Jake renames the spot
Peni-el, face-to-God's-face
His life changed a lot!

(okay so this is just one part of the Torah portion...but I'm tired and it's late. And this is a good part!)

See more Haiku Friday here...
Shabbat Shalom!

5 comments:

Unknown said...

This was a story well told!

Unknown said...

Yay! My favorite way to hear the Torah. Seriously! I love your Haikus each and every week. Makes the Old Testament so much more exciting!

Toni said...

Wow!

What a great retelling of that story!

Thanks for sharing, Rabbi Phyllis...

Happy Haiku Friday....

the planet of janet said...

i always look forward to your torah haiku. very creative and thought-provoking.

Anonymous said...

first time to read the torah in haiku form. i will be back.