Yelling at Rebels – a poem for Torah portion Chukat-Balak

Now listen, you rebels, can we draw water
for you from this rock?

Moses…not known for his witty banter
not one to give the troops a hard time
whose tongue is never inside his cheek

addresses the people as rebels
and that’s exactly what he means.
Fed up with our oldest tradition – complaining

Turns to the rock, or doesn’t even look at it
Hits it like a parent until the water flows.
Doesn’t even mention the Source.

This water that sates the kvetcher’s thirst
is the free-flowing tears of the Divine.
I’m not one to talk to rock either

but when the Holy One says mention my name
before you turn on the faucet, that’s an
instruction I’d pay attention to.

Or, like Moses who still has years to go
in front of these rebels, you’ll only get to
the very edge of your promised land.

Your feet never on its soil
The very air you breathe still tainted
with the stench of slavery.

Know the rebels before whom you stand.
Know the source of your gifts.
Draw your water accordingly.

Los Angeles poet Rick Lupert created the Poetry Super Highway (an online publication and resource for poets), and hosted the Cobalt Cafe weekly poetry reading for almost 21 years. He’s authored 23 collections of poetry, including “God Wrestler: A Poem for Every Torah Portion“, “I’m a Jew, Are You” (Jewish themed poems) and “Feeding Holy Cats” (Poetry written while a staff member on the first Birthright Israel trip), and most recently “Hunka Hunka Howdee!” (Poems written in Memphis, Nashville, and Louisville – Ain’t Got No Press, May 2019) and edited the anthologies “Ekphrastia Gone Wild”, “A Poet’s Haggadah”, and “The Night Goes on All Night.” He writes the daily web comic “Cat and Banana” with fellow Los Angeles poet Brendan Constantine. He’s widely published and reads his poetry wherever they let him.