Lee Diamond – The “Goldene Medina” of Persia
Cyrus offered
In 539 b.c.e.
A return home
To Eretz Yisrael
Some 50,000 returned
But all to many
Preferred the riches
Of Persia.
Carpets and gold,
A vast empire
Trade, agriculture
And security
So secure that we
Became Persian
Through and through
Rose to positions of
Power and Influence.
We forgot
Our language
Our names
And appearance
Crypto Jews
Hiding beneath
Veils of silk
From the Silk Road.
Now The unseen Jew.
Hidden faces
Names of Persian gods
Marduk and Ishtar
Provided invisibility.
A daughter of our
People- now queen
Of the greatest nation
Of its time.
Her Uncle Marduk
Promoting her reign
The golden Medina
But riches and power
Failed Us
An illusion Shattered
Reality spoke
We denied and denied
“Not here in our
Glorious refuge”!
We were Persians
No different
Loyal, contributing
Perhaps amongst the wisest
But a descendant of
The Biblical Amalek
Haman
Pulled the silken carpet
From beneath our
unstable Feet.
Our Persian identity
Our Persian language
Our power
Our security
Dashed to pieces.
By a power seeking
Anti Semite
Attacking like Amalek
From the rear.
We survived
By revealing our identity
We were saved
Because we saw
Our error
Of naïveté
We learned never
To cover our vision
With a veil of
silk and money.
In the meantime
Ezra proclaimed
The Torah
In Jerusalem to those
Who chose Israel
And rejected illusion.
Is the story true?
Not sure.
But the lesson is!
