You must not intermarry with them: you must not give your daughter to a son of theirs, and you must not take a daughter of theirs for your son, for your daughter’s husband will turn away your grandchild from following Me, and they will worship other peoples’ deities. ~ Deuteronomy 7:3-4
Okay, but there are some
pretty cool other deities out there.
Ganesh comes to mind, immediately –
many arms, elephant head – You don’t
get much more I want to hang out
with that guy than Ganesh.
Thor’s had a moment recently.
Started out a little too serious, but
really just a softie with a hammer.
You, for sure, won’t run out of wine
if Dionysus is at your party. In fact
it’s always a party when he’s present.
Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto may not
be the most famous of the bunch
but in Japan she brings the mirth.
Some of these are made up
you might say, and I say, yeah
I think you’re getting it now.
I’m all for perpetuating the family.
I swear if my great-grandchildren
aren’t salivating over the challah
I’m not sure what I’m doing here.
But I have room at my table for
Ganesh, or Apollo or even Zuul.
If our sons and daughters could
marry others’ sons and daughters
perhaps all the fighting would stop.
Bring home who you love,
oh, son of mine, I’ll sing B’ruchot Habaot
at the wedding and at least
the food will be interesting.
Rick Lupert, a poet, songleader and graphic designer, is the author of 29 books including “God Wrestler: A Poem for Every Torah Portion.” Visit him at www.JewishPoetry.net
