With ambiguity that’s rich
the shofar with a pious pitch
produces a most puzzling sigh
that seems from depths of hearts to cry
to God to listen to our prayer
for something Abraham did not dare
to ask Him: to agree to spare
the life of Isaac as He’d done
for Sodomites.
For Sarah’s son
a prayer for pity he made none,
which may have caused the death of Sarah,
say rabbis of a later era,
although God with a captured ram
replaced the son of Abraham,
so that the scales of His harsh sentence
might weigh well with our wept repentance,
reversing sins when our hearts hear
the blowing winds of each new year.
Gen. 22:12-13 states:
יב וַיֹּאמֶר, אַל-תִּשְׁלַח יָדְךָ אֶל-הַנַּעַר, וְאַל-תַּעַשׂ לוֹ, מְאוּמָה: כִּי עַתָּה יָדַעְתִּי, כִּי-יְרֵאאֱלֹהִים אַתָּה, וְלֹא חָשַׂכְתָּ אֶת-בִּנְךָ אֶת-יְחִידְךָ, מִמֶּנִּי. 12 And he said: ‘Lay not your hand upon the lad, neither do anything unto him; for now I know that you are a God-fearing man, because you did not withhold your son, your only son, from Me.’
יג וַיִּשָּׂא אַבְרָהָם אֶת-עֵינָיו, וַיַּרְא וְהִנֵּה-אַיִל, אַחַר, נֶאֱחַז בַּסְּבַךְ בְּקַרְנָיו; וַיֵּלֶךְ אַבְרָהָםוַיִּקַּח אֶת-הָאַיִל, וַיַּעֲלֵהוּ לְעֹלָה תַּחַת בְּנוֹ. 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt-offering instead of his son.
Gershon Hepner is a poet who has written over 25,000 poems on subjects ranging from music to literature, politics to Torah. He grew up in England and moved to Los Angeles in 1976. Using his varied interests and experiences, he has authored dozens of papers in medical and academic journals, and authored “Legal Friction: Law, Narrative, and Identity Politics in Biblical Israel.” He can be reached at gershonhepner@gmail.com.
