Amichai’s Top 50/33. בן אדם:כנפי רוח Ben Adam:wings of spirit
Human being, Rise up.
Rise up, you have tremendous strength.
You have wings of the spirit, wings of noble eagles.
Do not deny them, or they will deny you.
Seek them, instantly, the wings will manifest.
בֶּן אָדָם, עֲלֵה לְמַעְלָה עֲלֵה.
כִּי כֹּחַ עַז לְךָ יֵשׁ לְךָ כַּנְפֵי רוּחַ, כַּנְפֵי נְשָׁרִים אַבִּירִים.
אַל תְּכַחֵשׁ בָּם פֶּן יכחשו לְךָ.
דּרושׁ אוֹתָם – ויימצאו לך מיד.
Today is the 33rd day of the Omer count, Lag B’omer, and tonight is the night of the bonfires and the weddings. Growing up, this would be the day we’d go out collect wood and prepare the bonfire and at night there would be music around the flames, smoke in our eyes, potatoes and onions in the coals. In some circles this is the night of honoring the departed masters and mystics. So today is for the mystic master Rabbi Abraham Isaac Ha’Cohen Kook, who left behind him a complex spiritual and political legacy and also this poem, recently composed by Avigayil Ouziel, increasingly popular in Israel, and with English words that I translated a few years ago, now also beloved in the Lab/Shul community. When we next have a bonfire song circle – this is in the mix, with the reminder – we are the mystics, the masters, the one who can fly high and connect all worlds if we dare do it and leap over the flames.
Photo: I saw a beach on fire in Miami a few months ago and danced with the seagulls and prayed this song.
– Amichai
Amichai’s Top 50: Soundtrack of my life. 4/20-6-8 2019/Passover-Shavuot 5779
Inspired to share? Comments or reactions? Check out more on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
