Bus Bench Lessons – Matot-Masei (Aliyah 2)

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And all the young girls who have no experience of intimate relations with a man, you may keep alive for yourselves.

This was Moses speaking
Not the architects of the modern patriarchy
Not the installers of the glass ceiling

Not the pussy grabbers
But Moses, our prophet, our leader
our spokesperson of the Freedom Deliverer

And this came right after So now kill every male child,
and every woman who can lie intimately with a man
you shall kill.

We’re wandering through the desert with a
strange sense of divine entitlement.
We’re fighting enemies or destroying communities

with a righteousness we think we deserve.
I’ve seen the bus benches around Los Angeles
a place that should be a desert

with Hebrew saying love your neighbor as yourself.
Paid for by the people who take the words of Moses
as ineffable law.

This is the golden rule we should apply to
all the genders and identities and ages and colors.
I feel I’m writing poems to the choir.

But if you’re not one of the sweet singers
If you didn’t learn everything you needed to know
standing on one foot

then let the sacredness of all
stand as your commentary. Trust no-one
who says otherwise.

These poems are offered free for your enjoyment. If you use them as part of an event, meeting, educational or liturgical setting, please consider tipping the author.

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