67 - Rosh Chodesh Tevet

The dark of the new moon, Tevet, descends as we light the last two candles of Hanukkah. I imagine God planned it that way, so that by our own hand, we could find a way to dispel the darkness and the cold. Of course, I write from a midwesterner’s perspective. I know that it isn’t even particularly cold here this year (Tevet is early and there is this strange warm weather happening) but still, we are preparing for the cold, we are looking for it, we are buying warm socks and new mittens and polar fleece vests. Maybe a little cold is a good thing. Maybe it keeps us from complacency and reminds us that it remains our duty to create warmth and light, to maintain our link to the Eternal.

Sixty-Seven

Rosh Chodesh Tevet

In winter’s cold we are muffled,
Bundled against adversities,
Woolen scarves and puffy coats,
Stiffly armored in arctic winds.

Numbed as well, removed
From temperature’s reality,
As the Children were removed
When they sojourned in Egypt.

Is this shielding, this layering away
Of the cold, a muffling of the spirit?
Can an icy finger, creeping through
Awaken us anew to God’s call?

How slowly we plod, heads lowered,
Lifting booted feet above snow drifts,
Failing to see the sparkle of Light
Through icy branches.

How much harder we must strive
To answer yes in this frigid time;
To hear Your call to us,
The call to Your embracing warmth.