Earth Etude for Elul 7

Love Psalm from Elohim

by Judith Felsen, Ph.D.

Dear Ones,
This Elul we greet and meet in fields of anguish,
barely chanting salutations trapped in unrequited prayers
waiting to be mourned…
our hearts engorged with grief and rage beat haltingly,
our bodies weary cartons holding our debacle, filled with
symptoms screaming for attention and unknown revenge…

Dear Ones,
Within this dark abyss, quagmire of all unsafe,
do not shut down to holiness presiding on the edge of emptiness;
be with the speech of Elohim, the wind, the seas, the sparkle of the stars;
let Hashem’s nature carry you on wings, walk with you in gardens, gaze with you at skies and moon;
let human language go and be refilled with all that wordlessness can bring…
In desperation we reach out and in this darkest time,
through every blade of grass or tree You call, we hear and listen,
once again we are in Eden,
space we know and never left…

Dear Ones,
Do not shut down to nature’s call,
return instead to oneness,
Eden and before it all began…
come Home with Elohim…come home…

Baruch Hashem…

Judith Felsen, Ph.D.  is a 2nd generation Holocaust survivor, Baal teshuvah aspirant, more of a poetess, hiker, walker, mystic, dancer and naturalist than a psychologist. Judith, wife of Jack and dog mother of Moische, a German Shepherd rescue pup, is a resident of Bartlett, New Hampshire and a member of the Bethlehem Hebrew Congregation where she offers the dvar Torah for Kabbalat Shabbat services from October through June. Judith has been blessed to continue to experience rabbi Katy as a muse for several decades. She is currently residing in Long Beach, New York where she is attending to long Covid and related medical issues. She experiences all of life as a part of the journey, abounding with challenges, lessons and blessings daily. Writing is a refuge, practice and prayer for her, for which she is additionally grateful.

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