Change Is Good – A poem for Parsha Tzav

And [Moses] took the fat, the tail, all the fat which was on the innards, the diaphragm of the liver, the two kidneys together with their fat and the right thigh. ~ Leviticus 8:25

I’m a fan of the evolution of Judaism.
We started in tents set up in a promised land
and eventually ended up in Egypt.

We sat at a mountain for a while
and received new, detailed, instructions.
We took a long walk and eventually

ended up back at our original campground.
We built a Temple and showed up three times
a year to follow the detailed instructions.

The neighbors became occupiers
became evictors and we had to set up shop
in the old country back when it was still

the new country. We wrote so much down
about how to do what we should do.
Some of us grew mighty beards.

Along the way, electricity was invented
and we found ourselves in the new new country.
Some of us just call it the country.

Our beards were not as fashionable here
so many of us shaved them off. We put up
multiple buildings in the same neighborhood

so we could choose the right one for
our new-fangled sensibilities.
These changes keep happening,

like when the famous folk singer picked up
an electric guitar. Some people followed him
into that building and others stayed in the old one.

I love the tradition of the old building but
am happy to not have to interact with the
innards of a ram anymore.

Let Judaism go electric if it needs to.
We can unplug whenever we want.

Rick Lupert, a poet, songleader and graphic designer, is the author of 27 books including “God Wrestler: A Poem for Every Torah Portion.” Find him online at www.JewishPoetry.net