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Shir Hadash
  • Home
  • About Our Havurah
    • About Our Havurah
    • Clergy
    • Poetry Corner
      • Shelby Allen
        • Exodus 10:4
        • Learning To Speak
        • Learning To Swim
      • Ellen Fisher
      • Kimberly Gladman
        • The Words of Neferet
        • What the Psalmist Knew
      • Elizabeth Mark
      • Naomi Myrvaagnes
        • Isaac Tells Of His Journey
        • Rebekah Speaks Her Prophecy
      • Joel Reisman
      • Ruth Seidman
        • Elul–Spiritual Preparation
        • Lessons From The Mothers
      • Keith Tornheim
        • Adonaijireh
        • Borrowed
        • East Wind, West Wind
        • Elizabeth
        • If God Asked
        • Isaac at the Sacrifice
        • Pebbles of Remembrance
        • Rinsing Fatherhood / Childhood
        • Rosh Hashanah Reflections
        • Sarah
        • Spirit Boat
        • The Outing
        • The Testing
        • The Yellow Balloon
        • Tikkun, Leil Shavuot, 5773; Two Poems
    • Havurah Photos
    • About Reconstructionism
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    • Detailed Guide to Shabbat Services
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        • Kimberly Gladman
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        • Elizabeth Mark
        • Naomi Myrvaagnes
          • Isaac Tells Of His Journey
          • Rebekah Speaks Her Prophecy
        • Joel Reisman
        • Ruth Seidman
          • Elul–Spiritual Preparation
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          • East Wind, West Wind
          • Elizabeth
          • If God Asked
          • Isaac at the Sacrifice
          • Pebbles of Remembrance
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More poems by Keith

Poetry Corner

Adonaijireh

They say I named the place afterwards,

after I had seen it,

the place God showed me,

where to build an altar

to sacrifice my son,

as He had commanded.

But I named it beforehand―

Adonaijireh,

God-will-see.


For God’s command revealed

that omnipotent as He might be,

He could not see the future,

and He could not see into my heart.

Yes, I could sacrifice my son at God’s command,

but if I did,

if He let me,

He would lose me forever.

I, His faithful servant,

would then reject my Lord

as unworthy of my faith and devotion.

So this test was not a test of me,

but a test of God.

On Moriah’s mount,

Adonaijireh,

God will see

Himself.


Keith Tornheim, September 19, 2012



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