For Reverence, For Beauty
תַּעֲשֶׂ֣ה לָהֶ֔ם לְכָב֖וֹד וּלְתִפְאָֽרֶת
And make for them for reverence, for beauty Exodus 28:40
Make Me an altar
hewn directly from earth
no steps or mountains
only your assent to arrive,
yielding to fierce attention,
pliable love.
Make my alter
a mirror of raw rock,
twelve pillars for belonging, a reminder
that earth is my Body
your soles my feet
a mosaic of sapphire, sky-pure,
beauty beyond beauty within.
Make my altar a hearht, Grow and gather grains,
pound and free them into softness
kneading, pressing, braiding
into the bread of faces,
golden baked and brought
to the Holy belly of the mishkan.
Turn towards
the wise hearted among you,
collectors of fleece and flax
who know how to translate
the ordinary into filaments of gold,
blue, purple, scarlet,
spinning women, women spinning
with wise fingers sacred fibers
with pregnant hands,
garmenting holy bodies,
the sanctuaries where I dwell.
Gather herbs and roots,
pound and boil and simmer
until you collect the iykar, the essence -
which will lift you
out of delusion
for a few moments.
Thirteen rivers of persimmon oil
await you running over rock, under
and mountain, pooling
into thirteen wells of oil,
like liquid fire, rousing the sleeping
Crone from her winter cave to
relight the way to spring,
warming the rising sap
returning to repair
the fissures of branch and stem
where the golden leaves
once fell.
Make of your bodies
a sanctuary
where I will dwell
even if you are ransacked,
your walls breached, your
holy insides broken. Turn
your hands and hearts
toward the earth,
no need to ascend or descend
you can steady your feet
the ground
you stand on
is holy.
Just say Yes.
Elana Klugman
2-11-22
Notes on poem:
13 rivers of pure persimmon oil that are mentioned in classical rabbinic literature as the future reward of the righteous.
13 wellsprings of precious anointing oil. Seekers of the Face, pg 216 Melila Hellner Eshed
Footnote: see, Bereshit rabbah 62;2 BT Ta’anit 25 Avodah Zarah 18b
From Parsha Yitro:
Make for Me an altar of earth
Exodus 20:21
And if you make for Me an altar of stones, do not build it of hewn stones;
Exodus 20:22
Do not ascend My altar by steps,
Exodus 20:23
From Parsha Mishpatim:
Moses then wrote down all the commands of the LORD.
Early in the morning, he set up an altar at the foot of the mountain, with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel.
Exodus 24:4
and they saw the God of Israel: under His feet there was the likeness of a pavement of sapphire, like the very sky for purity.
Exodus 24:10
From Parsha Terumah:
And let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them.
Exodus 25:8
And thou shalt set upon the table showbread/bread of faces before me always.
Exodus 25:30
From Parsha Tetzaveh:
And thou shalt speak unto all that are wise-hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they make
Aaron’s garments to sanctify him, that he may minister unto Me in the priest’s office
Exodus 28:3
And they shall take the gold, and the blue, and the purple, and the scarlet, and the fine linen.
Exodus 28:5
From Parsha Mishpatim:
Moses went and repeated to the people all the commands of the LORD and all the rules; and all the people
answered with one voice, saying, “All the things that the LORD has commanded we will do!
Exodus 24:3