Waiting for Hashem, my G-d, I pray to Him;
even when I do not believe,
I pray,

&
speak to the Void, the vast emptiness,
the Without End;

even when my faith is weak, as fragile as a
baby dove without her mother,
I pray,

&
wait for Hashem, as He waits for me to reach
into the Void and listen to the mystical silence,
I pray;

as I empty my mind and prepare for memalleh,
the filling of the Void,
I pray;

even when my faith is buried deep within my
psyche,
I pray;

&
speak to the vast silence, asking my unknowable
G-d to give me strength, to face all that I must
face with courage and honor,

as I merge with the eternal flow of life and become
one with it,
I pray,

a Jewish man often frightened and terrified by the
sundry shapes of evil, but through prayer-empowered
to speak out against heinous crimes,

as I contemplate the unfathomable Holocaust,
waiting for Hashem, my G-d.

– Mel Waldman

(added Thu 05.14.09)

RESURRECTION MAN

I died in the winter of my despair. Yet in
the spring of sacred beginnings, I was reborn.

In the pristine moment of my 1st birth,
Hashem, my G-d, blessed me with
His divine breath, and in a cosmic kiss,

He created my celestial soul, my neshama, and
I came into being too, a human child with flesh
and spirit, nourished by the mysterious soul,
I came into being.

Through the eerie years of unexpected joy and
sorrow, and uncanny coincidences, colliding in the
cosmos of my life,

I was reborn again and again in the spring of holy
creation.

And I imagine that before my final death, I shall
die a thousand deaths on earth, for each day, injustice
and other evils murder my wounded soul, tearing my
flesh too with toxic despair.

Reborn with each magical sunrise, I am Resurrection Man.
But who shall I be when I am dead and dust once more?

Shall I rise from the earth and fly through the mystical air,
mere dust scattered over human existence? Perhaps,
Hashem will bless me with His divine breath, and in a
cosmic kiss, recreate my celestial soul, contained within the

holy sparks of barren dust, blessed and belonging to Hashem,
my G-d. If it is His will, I will drift in the turquoise sky,
seeking redemption and rebirth, yearning for eternal life,
discovering that even dust has a right to be, for it too comes
from Hashem, my G-d.