Lee Diamond – A Minyan and a Golem, If I Forget Thee
A Minyan and a Golem
Do nine Jews
And a Golem
A minyan make?
Do ten fully and
Jewishly verbal
Golems
A minyan make?
And 9 Golems
And one non Golem
Jew
A minyan make?
And AIs?
Robots with Artificial
Intelligence?
Can they be counted?
All of Torah
In the broadest sense
Programmed Within them
The Ability to compare
Torah and modernity
Built in
Responsa capable
Will IT the 10 person make ?
And may a robot named Chaim
Or Chana be a chazan(it)
Declaring Shema and It’s blessings and bowing
And shukelling to
The the rhythm
Of the “amidah”
Be allowed
And a Torah reader be?
Clear and accurate
Hebrew and
Trope perfect be?
If only we could
Create an AJN
A Jewish Neshama
That cries
During Kol Nidre
And laughs
On Simchat Torah
From joy.
“Ha Neshama lach
VeHaguf slelach
Husa al Amalech”
הנשמה לך והגוף שלך הוסה על עמלך
It’s the Soul within us
that is YOURS
And The Body
that enraptures that
Neshama
that Is YOURS.
And YOUR mercy
toward us
THAT MAKES US COUNT
If I Forget Thee
When ideology
Overcomes real relationships
When the dream of a cause
Overrides parents,
Siblings, family and friends
When youth and idealism
disregards intimate
Native born natural connections
When passion replaces
The familiar and the
reasonable.
That’s the stuff that visions
Are made of
And that’s what makes great dreams come true.
But dreams and vision
And youth and passion
Shake the very foundations
Of stability and decency
For those left behind
Abandonment is justified
By enthusiasm and values
Yet the value of human
Relationship
Is relegated to insignificance
In a world of ideology and passion.
“I Stand Guilty As Accused.”
The vision of the new venture
Precluded the love of the
The cradle of my civilization.
Though the “vision” Carried me
On Eagles wings to the heights
Of renewal
I sacrificed my cradle
And the love that surrounded it
to the god of re-creation
To Reconstruction and energizing
Which was my Molech in the Great
Valley.
Yet I still walk through
The valley
Of the shadow of rebirth
And still sacrifice my
Childhood and precious
Relationships to
The value of ״Jew vi Nation״
I’ve forgotten Egypt
As Ive entered Israel.
I feel that I’ve sinned
For its Egypt
It is history and memory
That fuels passion.
For Without Egypt
We are shallow
Israel can only “be”
With living memory.
Only by memory can we build future.
Remembering where we come from
Directs us to our destination.
