Friday, November 09, 2007

Jacob & Esau...in Haiku



In this week's Torah portion....Toldot...

Rivka is barren.
Ike prays to God - please, kids, please!
God answers his prayer.

Two babies inside
Two nations within her womb
They won't get along

Esau is born first
Big and hairy, with Jacob
hanging on his heel.

The two are real diff
E likes to hunt, fish, and fight
Jake likes to stay home.

One day E wants food.
Jake has been cooking all day.
"Gimme some of that."

Jake's no fool, he deals.
"I'll trade soup for the birthright.
You don't care for it."

Esau is hungry.
The birthright goes to Jacob.
The soup to E's mouth.

Digressive story
Ike and Ree go to Gerar
"She is my sister."

The tale's familiar
We have heard it once before.
Whew, now that's over.

Back to Jake's blessing...
Logistics of getting it
are a bit tricky.

Ike's sight is real bad,
He knows not about the deal
So he calls Esau.

"Make me food to eat,
Kill it, I'd like meat to eat."
So Esau goes out.

Meanwhile, Ree hears all.
She sends Jake to catch some lambs.
She insists it's time.

Esau is hairy
Jake is not - lambskins cover
Deception - complete!

Into Dad he goes
Sound like one, smell like other
Isaac is unsure.

Jake deceives his dad,
The blessing is his for good.
Esau is upset.

Jake flees to Haran
To escape his brother's wrath
And to find a girl.

Coming up next week
Turnabout is unfair play
Deception for Jake!

*notes:
1. is meanwhile 2 syllables or 3? I think it depends on your accent!
2. The last stanza, I couldn't decide between "turnabout is unfair play" and "what goes around comes around..." -- what do you think??
3. this is probably too much analysis, huh?

What's YOUR favorite Torah portion/story? Share in comments...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi, Rabbi Phyllis,
I like both of your blog sites.
Your Haiku are nice.