POEM: A Blessing (Parashat Pekudei)

(Originally published in 2022)

According to Rashi, this is what Moshe said to the people upon completion of the work of the Mishkan (tabernacle) (Rashi on Exodus 39:43):

יהי רצון שתשרה שכינה במעשה ידיכם
May it be God’s will that the Divine Presence (Shekhinah) should rest in the work of your hands.

Open your hands to receive the blessing –   
these hands that shape and create
that mold and hold tight.
Let them unclench now.
Let all effort cease.  

Open your hands to receive the blessing
which pours only
into hands of release,
palms up like a cup, a cup
with cracks through which
sweet gentle Grace 
may arrive.

Can you sense Her coming?
Like a breeze She will come
the moment we turn.
Like a breeze She will come, 
and like a breeze, She will go, 
blowing breath into our 
dormant words and works, 
so that we may live
through our hands
beyond this day.  

ויהי נועם ה’ אלוקינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו

May the pleasantness of the Lord our God be upon us.  Establish for us the work of our hands.  O establish for us the work of our hands!   

(Psalm 90: 17, a psalm known as “The Prayer of Moshe.”  Rashi quotes this verse as the end of Moshe’s blessing to the people here).

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