The natural satellite of Earth, visible by reflection of
sunlight and having a slightly elliptical orbit, approximately
356,000 kilometers (221,600 miles) distant at perigee and
406,997 kilometers (252,950 miles) at apogee. Its mean
diameter is 3,475 kilometers (2,160 miles), its mass
approximately one eightieth that of Earth, and its average
period of revolution around Earth 29 days 12 hours 44
minutes calculated with respect to the sun.
As salt resolved in the ocean I was swallowed in God's
sea, Past faith, past unbelieving, Past doubt, past certainty.
Suddenly in my bosom A star shone clear and bright; All
the suns of heaven Vanished in that star's light.
This gorgeous moon has finally appeared
Still covered by a misty cloud But in its full glory It is the
15th of the month And we have not blessed it as yet We
waited for Tisha B’av to pass But it was so cloudy since
Now it revealed itself to us on this last opportunity to bless
Before it descends Representing the waning of our
fortunes and the cycle begins again.
I love this evening moon I cannot leave it I watch it ever so
slowly mend its way across my front door Tracing its
celestial path yet so close to me tonight. La Stella Luna he
told her in Moonstruck, “when the moon hits your eye
like a big pizza pie...That’s amore!” we sang with the kids so
often when things went well and we were on top of the
world. Usually driving somewhere. Nothing could defeat
our family We were the best we could be.
It does have a face, really! And it has moved so many men
to rhyme and poetry Its grace and ivory quality In the
darkness of the cold universe, so close to us, beckoning
its wisdom. I wait each month for these few moments
when it is full, so round you could draw a circle with it No
blemishes, no shadows, no fault lines, no reflections of my
own failures Rather fullness and mad dogs and craziness,
Even Shakespeare referred to the moon as "governess of
the floods." Those crazy tides In his dreamy midsummer
night play, But elsewhere in Othello she is blamed for
making men mad by coming too close to earth. Lunar
madness, lunatics, we all go crazy in the fullness of her
mid-cycle presence.
I see why, it is truly hypnotic.
In the liturgy the ecclesia of Israel is also compared to the
moon whose fortunes rise and fall in history. Ancient
midrashim point to a moment of creation when the sun
and moon were equal And the moon complained only to
be lessened in stature.
She is so silent this one I hear no music of the spheres!
What was Holtz on! But I prefer the solitude She too is so
lonely and we two are together this night I am sure she
sees me watching her.
In her face so many have written In her presence so many
have cried Her topography is truly marked by the
landscape of human memory Etched with the tears of
loving hearts and yearning souls.
We too pray for her return to her former glory Equal to the
burning mighty sun For I am sure she will remember all
those who prayed for her monthly Who cried for her
diminishment, her waning half the time Her disappearing
and absence before resurfacing What was she doing?
What abuse did she suffer while gone from our gaze?
Maybe we loaded her with too much baggage For after all
Jews and Muslims use and abuse her for calendric
purposes She is weary now with all the battles over who
was right and who was wrong Who was closer to God
Who had the sacred text that was divine and who had the
heretical text. Tired from all man’s fighting over hegemony
Missing the importance of loving rather than being right.
She needs rehabilitation as well! A re-birth of a different
sort A renewal of spirit Not the pagan wicker stuff mind you
Rather a re-imagining of cycle and womanhood, fecundity
and birthing
The monthly cycles that woman understands as to the
tides The truth of the ebb and flow we have all seemed to
have lost in the hustle for security The bleeding and
fatigue the pain and the bloating the mood swings and the
relief She understands all this well.
Our future needs her now Needs to integrate her methods
and cycles not for mastering some ancient text or race Not
for controlling other’s behavior when to daven or not, when
to light or not, Rather to succumb and surrender like she
does To meld and wane To accept this fully in silence To
endure To hold all opposites tightly without letting go
Appreciating all there is however disparate
This is her secret We need it badly!
