The Pain of War and the Symphony of Life ( A Poem)

Back from Israel,

Back to ‘reality’
Lebi Bamizrach,
But is it really?

Em eshcachech yerushalayim tishcach yemini,
Every opportunity to say it,
We remember jerusalem,
Acheinu kol Beis yisroel,
We remember,
We believe,
We care,
And we live,
That we are all one,

But how removed are we?
From the pain,
The sadness,
The grief,
The suffering,
The constant fear,
The sirens,
The 24 soldiers lost in a day,
The mothers and fathers of children held hostage,
Killed in a massacre.

The grandparents shot point blank,
Smoked out of their home,
A grenade thrown into a bomb shelter,
Killing 20 people,
The death toll rises,
But we keep calm and carry on,
We need our five dollar coffees and drinks with friends,
The show must go on,
But do we stop and think?
When setting the Shabbos table,
That somewhere out there,
We have brothers and sisters,
Locked under ground,
Held in terrible conditions,
Remembering the Shabbos day,

And I talk to myself when I say,
We must pray,
Every day,
For the release,
The victory,
The peace and security,
Of everyone in Israel,
The obliteration of evil,
Down to the last one,
That no more shall there be,
Any war,
Pain or sadness,

That my home is in Jerusalem,
That I don’t take it for granted,
That I think of my millions,
Of siblings,
That I hold them near,
And dear to my heart,
The names and the photos,
Of hostages and soldiers,
Fallen heroes and innocent children.

A silent prayer,
A whisper to hashem,
To save one soul…
A small mitzvah,
A plight for kindness,
Of mercy from our creator.

Take one thing,
Something small you can do,
Send a donation,
Even a dollar,
Anything will help,
And you’ll show Hashem you care,
That we are in this together,
K’Ish Eshad B’Lev Echad.

And that’s what will bring them home,
The soldiers on the front lines,
Fighting for their lives,
Protecting their people,
Our people,
Our big beautiful culture of family,
Our nation,
Our one big dysfunctional family,
Of so many colors and creeds,
Orthodox, Chassidish,
Atheist or Buddhist,
Everyone was at Har Sinai,
And everyone has a portion in the world to come…

Put on T’fillin,
For someone, or on someone,
Give some tzedaka,
For the safety of a hostage,
For the health and wellbeing of a person who’s sick,
For the life of a soldier on his way to battle,
For the safety of our family, all over the world.

It’s painful but it’s real,
That’s the thing about life...
It comes with ups and downs but in the end the sun will shine and we’ll dance again,
It’s a convoluted reality,
To see the soldiers dancing as people are dying,
But that’s the way to win this fight,
Simcha Poretz Geder,
And the Torah comes with us to war.

And in the times of the temple,
Everyone went to war,
A shofar was blown
And every grown man would run out to war,
Unless you were afraid, then you would stay,
But this time,
In 5784,
Everyone went to war,
No one was afraid,
Three hundred thousand strong,
One for all and all for one…

But as the clouds thicken,
And the war goes on,
Hanesunim Batzara,
The prayer that we say,
Acheinu Kol Beis Yisroel,
Includes every single one of us,
Cause deep down we are all in this pain,
When you read a story and your heart drops,
Or you hear the prayer of a child,
A small moment of inspiration that awakens your soul,
A reality that hashem is in charge,
That we are all one.

The evil in this world will wither and die,
The K’Lipah will be broken and Moshiach will come,
We’ll see the Beis Hamikdash and T’chias Hameisim,
And somehow this pain will all make sense,
The truth to be revealed,
And the world will wake up…

Like water and oil,
The truth rises to the top,
The Sheker is revealed,
The truth prevails,
The love prevails,
The unity wins,
The Torah shines,
And the light of hashem illuminates the world…

A great awakening,
An inspiring reality,
A grand revelation,
A transcendent light,
The Ohr Haganuz.

It starts with Acheinu,
Love we have for each other,
Prayers of the orphan, the widow and the poor,

Those in the deepest pain are closest to hashem,
The Sha’arei Dim’ah,
The gates of tears,
The mercy of Hashem,
The embrace from above,
Is every day.

Hashem recreates and enables existence in each and every moment,
And when we remember Hashem,
When we leave it up to him,
When we remember that he’s the one keeping it all afloat,
We inspire Rachamim,
Hashem’s mercy,

K’Ish Echad B’Lev Echad,
That’s what he wants to see,
Our father our king,
The master designer,
The heavenly creator,
The composer and conductor,
Of this beautiful symphony…

The thing about a symphony is it starts of slow,
Mellow and low,
But as the music develops,
We hear the ensemble,
The melodies and harmonies,
It begins to make sense,
And something comes alive inside each and every spectator.

But the parable for life would not be complete, without saying,
That we too are the musicians,
That we may be reading the music,
Practicing the melody,
But only when we play together,
And we all see the composer,
Does the music begin to make sense.

And one day it will,
And the more we play this melody,
Rehearse this beautiful symphony,
Together in harmony,
Practicing unity,
Caring for one another,
Perfecting the world,

The closer we get,
To the beautiful show,
The ultimate composition,
The completion of creation,
Unity and redemption.

So let’s sing this beautiful song,
Let’s play our personal instruments,
Our unique spark, our gift from hashem,
Unique to us, that only we can do,
And whatever it is,
Will bring the world closer,
And elevate our consciousness,
To see the light,
The truth revealed,
The Ohr Haganuz,
The Giluy Elokus,
The light of Hashem,
And in the process, save that many more lives.

אַחֵינוּ כָּל בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל הַנְּתוּנִים בַּצָּרָה וּבַשִּׁבְיָה הָעוֹמְדִים בֵּין בַּיָּם וּבֵין בַּיַּבָּשָׁה הַמָּקוֹם יְרַחֵם עֲלֵיהֶם וְיוֹצִיאֵם מִצָּרָה לִרְוָחָה וּמֵאֲפֵלָה לְאוֹרָה וּמִשִּׁעְבּוּד לִגְאֻלָּה הָשָׁתָא בַּעֲגָלָא וּבִזְמַן קָרִיב וְנֹאמַר אָמֵן

Joseph Rothvogel