אדמה ושמים | Adamah v’Shamayim (Earth & Heaven), a prayer-poem by Rabbi Louis Polisson after the song by Shimon Lev-Tahor (Suissa)

Contributor(s): Louis Polisson

Shared on: 27 September 2020 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

Categories: Yom Kippur

Tags: 2020 United States racial reckoning, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., first person, Needing Vocalization, Prayers as poems, September 2020 Western United States wildfires, תשובה teshuvah, זמן תשובה Zman teshuvah

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Hebrew	English
אני יושב וצופה על העשבים הירוקים חורש העצים לפני, לשמאל אני שר אדמה ושמים חום האש צליל המיים אני מרגיש זאת בגופי ברוחי ובנשמתי	I sit and look out over the green grass The grove of trees just in front of me, to the left I sing Adamah ve-shamayim [earth and sky] Ḥom ha-eish [heat of fire] Ts’lil ha-mayyim [sound of water] Ani margish zot [I feel this] Be-gufi [in my body] Be-ruḥi [in my spirit] Uve-nishmati [and in my soul]^[1] Lyrics to “Adamah v’Shamayim” by Shimon Lev-Tahor (Suissa), 20th century.
אבל האם אני מרגיש את הכאב את הסבל של בני אדם עמיתים, בני חוה בני עדן בני אדמה	But do I feel The pain The suffering Of my fellow human beings, children of Eve Children of Eden Children of Earth
תשובה, חזרה, היא לשוב לעדן, כן אבל גם שוב לגיהנום שבו גופים הוקרבו לאלים כוזבים של שנאה ואש	Teshuvah, returning, then Is back to Eden, yes But also back to Gehinnom Where bodies were sacrificed To false gods Of hate and fire
יהי גשם שמיני עצרת יבא מהר לשטוף את השנאה לכבות את הלהבות	May the rain of the 8th day Come swiftly Wash away the hate Extinguish the flames
יהי אדמה ושמים יתדחשו ויחדשו אותנו סולחים את חטאתינו	May the Earth and the Sky Be renewed and renew us Forgiving us our sins
יהי המלך בשדה ישיבינו ונשובה מחדש ימינו כקדם	May the Sovereign in the field Return us and we will return Renewing our days as of old

אדמה ושמים, מאת הרב לואיס לב שלום בן אשר זעליג ז׳׳ל וטובה פוליסון, אלול תש״פ (Adamah Ve-Shamayim (Earth and Heaven), by Rabbi Louis Polisson, August 2020 / Elul 5780). This poem was composed at the end of August 2020 / Elul 5780 as part of Rabbi Katy Allen’s Earth Etudes for Elul 5780. This prayer-poem was first published on the blog of Mayan Tikvah.

If you’d like to support Louis Polisson’s creative work, you can support him via PayPal at louis.polisson@gmail.com.

Notes[+]

Notes
1	Lyrics to “Adamah v’Shamayim” by Shimon Lev-Tahor (Suissa), 20th century.

. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike . 4.0 . International .

“אדמה ושמים | Adamah v’Shamayim (Earth & Heaven), a prayer-poem by Rabbi Louis Polisson after the song by Shimon Lev-Tahor (Suissa)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.

Louis Polisson

Louis Polisson is a musician, poet, and rabbi, ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2018, where he also earned an MA in Jewish Thought focusing on Kabbalah and Ḥasidut. He currently serves as the Associate Rabbi and Music Director at Congregation Beth Sholom in Teaneck, New Jersey. He previously served for five years as the solo clergy of Congregation Or Atid in Wayland, Massachusetts. Louis and his wife Gabriella Feingold released an album of original Jewish and nature-based spiritual folk music in November 2018 - listen here.

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." –Psalms 90:17