Awakening to the revelations that guide us

We have come through the High Holy Days,
through new plantings and new beginnings,
to become aware of what it is that keeps us
from the Divine – from ourselves.

This poem speaks to our despair, loneliness and hope
as we ask how to move forward,
to come to know Divine Joy as part of our existence. 

Having fallen into despair 

     bitterness with no hope 

everything longed for                 

      is gone – not finding the wealth within

Feeling our aloneness 

                         
To renew again, we must awaken
to the revelations that guide us 

Our love for Hashem

still reaches in 

                                                                                         
Will we come up from our suffering –

to surrender to all that is

to every note of negativity and grief
that lives within us —

   so we can feel what must be felt,

letting go of all we possess,

of all that has defined us

 so we could move from suffering   

So we can live into
      what is greater than us 

Opening to this vulnerability 

   bowing only to Creation,
      to our Creator —

In love with the Greater Self that is Elo-him

We ask of You and of ourselves
to awaken to and to listen for
the revelations offered —

in order to clear our hearts,
clear our minds,
and to bow to You,
only to You –

to come to know the Divine Joy
of our existence 

© Todd Emerson Greenberg 11/03/2025