Nine Reasons – A poem for Parsha Behar-Bechukotai

These are the commandments that God commanded Moses to tell the Israelites at the foot of Mount Sinai. ~ Leviticus 27:34

These are the last words in the
third book of the Torah which could
tell you any number of things:

I
My lawyer wasn’t available
to interpret for me the laws of real estate
that appear before these words
in time for me to write this.

II
I don’t actually have a lawyer.

III
My lawyer was busy consecrating
the fields because they had read ahead
and knew exactly what to do.

IV
I was distracted trying to save all
the firstborn animals from being sacrificed
and wondering why the second and third
born animals were off the hook.

V
My lawyer was looking into
the ancient priesthood so he could
get his hands on some of that sweet
firstborn animal meat. (To consecrate
of course.)

VI
I’ve been waiting on the surveyor
to tell me if my backyard could be
sufficiently sowed with a chomer
of barley seed.

VII
I’m waiting to hear back from my
staff on what the word chomer means.

VIII
I only just found out I
don’t have a staff and have a
whole lot of work to catch up on.

IX
I’m trying to gather the strength
to wander through the desert
for forty years. We start walking
next week.

Rick Lupert, a poet, songleader and graphic designer, is the author of 28 books including “God Wrestler: A Poem for Every Torah Portion.” Visit him at www.JewishPoetry.net