Isra El

What does Israel mean?

Isra-El. In Hebrew,

"He has struggled with God."

If you struggle with God,

you become the garden

of Gethsemane.

Mount Zion is the pillow

under your sacrum.

If you wrestle the Creator

and get wounded,

you are the promised land.

Weary pilgrims rest

in your shadow, eating manna

from your branches.

The homeless Spirit pitches

her tent beneath your wailing wall.

Her children drink

from your cisterns and hollow places,

the darkness in your bones.

You are the Vine.

Israel is not a place

but a presence.

T'shuv. Return. Selah.

Be a gentle outpouring

of honey and wine,

the honey of attention,

the wine of mindfulness.

Restoration of the kingdom

is never in the world to come.

The Sabbath is now.

a vast impermanence

swallows your heart,

the heart whose Hebrew name,

“levav, levav,”

pulses with the gift of uncertainty,

davening like a wanderer.

The third and final temple

is your flesh.

Exile ends when you feel

at home in your body.

This breath the Shekináh,

the Jordon River flowing

up your spine,

the Vale of Kidron blossoming

between your breasts

Painting, 'Shekinah' by Charlotte Self