Vision at Neilah2 min read

We can never stop mourning

That which we never truly lost

The end of the destruction –

The beginning of the rebuilding

A two-thousand-year process

Of pain and prosperity

Mortar-mixing, bricklaying, interior designing

Work-related injuries

Freak accidents

Casualties

Menorah made out of

Blown-out candles

Mizbeach made out of

Six Million sacrifices

Building the spiritual structure of

The Third Temple

Everlasting in its glory

–

It’s 2019

Look up!

The gleaming edifice

Towers above you

Look around!

Mighty walls of Torah thought

And tear-soaked prayer

Crystalized, shining

Have we not completed our task?

The scaffolding has been removed

The building is built

The grandeur is blinding

–

And so, lifted on wings of ecstasy

I escape to an ancient vision

Yom Kippur in the Temple rebuilt

To behold the visage of the Kohen Gadol

“Ma’areh Kohen”

I rush through the giant ornate doors

Into the expanse where heaven meets earth

Past the vessels of gold

And the platform of Leviim

Tuning their instruments for the very last time

I approach the Holy of Holies

Legs carried by joy and excitement

–

And I freeze

There is no Kodesh Hakodashim

In its place

A gaping hole

Concrete slabs

Unsightly insulation

A tangle of wood and metal

Silent, empty space

–

A sound

I start, frightened

Ringing bells from around the corner

Ah, the Kohen Gadol!

I peek around the corner

And there, in the air

Float the Shemoneh Begadim

The holy garments

A brilliant light emanates

From the Choshen stones

The shining Tzitz is positioned above

Bells and pomegranates

Bells and Pomegranates

Ring out below

But there is no Kohen Gadol

The garments, they flutter

Devoid of essence

–

I am shaken from my inner wanderings

As Yom Kippur draws to a close

A joyous Kaddish

Tables set with orange juice and rugelach

And many breaths of relief

Maariv ensues

Newly forgiven

I bang my chest twice

During “S’lach Lanu”

Because somehow

Yom Kippur

“Shabbos Shabbason”

Is yet incomplete

–

The Beis Hamikdash of our Judaism

Is all but rebuilt

Wonderfully consummate

In so many ways

But our generation

The stone despised by the builders

Is tasked with generating

The Kodesh HaKodashim

–

All the songs are holy

The Song of Songs is

Holy of Holiest

The “holy” has thankfully been built

Torah, Avodah, Gemillas Chassadim –

Yeshivos, shuls, gemachim galore

The Beis Hamikdash of Jewish society

Stands before us, remarkably impressive

But our generation’s task is the

“Holy of holiest”

A nation prepared

to fill the structures of the holy

With the essential spirit of

Shir HaShirim

Passion, Desire, Romance

Cutting to the depth of our tradition

And bringing it to everlasting life

–

Until then

We remain with Tzaddikim

Who do not connect the earthiness of my life

With the portion of heaven

I carry within

A Shabbos robbed

Of spiritual freedom

“Nachalah b’meitzarim”

And a spiritual Temple that

Despite all external appearances

Is broken

Terribly broken

The mourning continues