WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.260 align:middle line:90%


00:00:01.260 --> 00:00:04.070 align:middle line:90%
This next poem is about--

00:00:04.070 --> 00:00:07.710 align:middle line:84%
it's based only on the
first chapter of the Psalms,

00:00:07.710 --> 00:00:14.550 align:middle line:84%
which, as you all know, speaks
about the righteous person

00:00:14.550 --> 00:00:21.720 align:middle line:84%
shall be like a tree planted
by streams of many waters.

00:00:21.720 --> 00:00:26.610 align:middle line:84%
And the evil and the wicked one
shall wither out in the wind

00:00:26.610 --> 00:00:32.189 align:middle line:84%
that comes from the
desert, which, again,

00:00:32.189 --> 00:00:36.150 align:middle line:84%
can be understood-- this
metaphor of the Psalms--

00:00:36.150 --> 00:00:39.330 align:middle line:84%
can be understood in
this part of the world

00:00:39.330 --> 00:00:41.340 align:middle line:90%
and in our part of the world.

00:00:41.340 --> 00:00:45.810 align:middle line:84%
But what if you
say this Psalm in,

00:00:45.810 --> 00:00:51.000 align:middle line:84%
let's say, in Seattle where
there's so much rain--

00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:56.790 align:middle line:84%
so the evil one actually
wants to get a lot of hot air

00:00:56.790 --> 00:00:59.220 align:middle line:90%
and warm-- to be dry and warm.

00:00:59.220 --> 00:01:03.150 align:middle line:84%
And, so, actually, you have
to turn it upside down.

00:01:03.150 --> 00:01:07.590 align:middle line:90%
But I think it's this kind of--

00:01:07.590 --> 00:01:09.540 align:middle line:84%
so, actually, if
you would translate

00:01:09.540 --> 00:01:11.160 align:middle line:84%
this poem in a
different climate,

00:01:11.160 --> 00:01:13.920 align:middle line:84%
you would have to
translate it differently.

00:01:13.920 --> 00:01:15.990 align:middle line:84%
But I think it's
one of the things

00:01:15.990 --> 00:01:21.900 align:middle line:84%
of these unreal realities which
have kept the Jewish people

00:01:21.900 --> 00:01:23.850 align:middle line:90%
going for so many years.

00:01:23.850 --> 00:01:25.530 align:middle line:90%
They've been, for instance--

00:01:25.530 --> 00:01:33.660 align:middle line:84%
because Israel is a
subtopic land, so,

00:01:33.660 --> 00:01:36.600 align:middle line:84%
each fall, we are
waiting for rains

00:01:36.600 --> 00:01:40.110 align:middle line:84%
because it means life
and death for all.

00:01:40.110 --> 00:01:43.200 align:middle line:84%
So there is a special
prayer in the high Holy days

00:01:43.200 --> 00:01:47.040 align:middle line:84%
שמחת תורה in which you
really pray for rain.

00:01:47.040 --> 00:01:50.790 align:middle line:84%
But Jews have been
saying this prayer also

00:01:50.790 --> 00:01:56.520 align:middle line:84%
in England or in Seattle, so you
could almost imagine people--

00:01:56.520 --> 00:02:03.150 align:middle line:84%
because these high holy
days are mostly in fall when

00:02:03.150 --> 00:02:04.120 align:middle line:90%
you have a lot of rain.

00:02:04.120 --> 00:02:06.150 align:middle line:84%
So you can imagine
Jews in Seattle

00:02:06.150 --> 00:02:09.330 align:middle line:84%
in some temple
screaming for rain,

00:02:09.330 --> 00:02:10.709 align:middle line:90%
and it's pouring rain outside.

00:02:10.709 --> 00:02:16.920 align:middle line:90%


00:02:16.920 --> 00:02:22.860 align:middle line:84%
But, then, of course, this kind
of memory of the past homeland

00:02:22.860 --> 00:02:24.930 align:middle line:84%
has really kept
the Jewish memory

00:02:24.930 --> 00:02:27.210 align:middle line:90%
as much as it's illogical.

00:02:27.210 --> 00:02:31.530 align:middle line:84%
And I think the best things
in life are illogical.

00:02:31.530 --> 00:02:33.540 align:middle line:84%
And I think it's
one of the things.

00:02:33.540 --> 00:02:36.370 align:middle line:90%


00:02:36.370 --> 00:02:40.260 align:middle line:84%
In it, there's also a
mentioning of a hill.

00:02:40.260 --> 00:02:42.360 align:middle line:84%
It's a hill of evil
counsel, which you might

00:02:42.360 --> 00:02:44.310 align:middle line:90%
know from the New Testament.

00:02:44.310 --> 00:02:52.590 align:middle line:84%
And its mountain right
inside modern Jerusalem.

00:02:52.590 --> 00:02:58.530 align:middle line:84%
"I am a man planted
beside streams of water,

00:02:58.530 --> 00:03:02.280 align:middle line:90%
but I'm not blessed be the man.

00:03:02.280 --> 00:03:06.450 align:middle line:84%
The desert is calm
all around me,

00:03:06.450 --> 00:03:09.750 align:middle line:90%
but there is no peace in me.

00:03:09.750 --> 00:03:11.730 align:middle line:90%
Two sons I have--

00:03:11.730 --> 00:03:14.160 align:middle line:90%
one still small.

00:03:14.160 --> 00:03:17.610 align:middle line:84%
And whenever I see
a child crying,

00:03:17.610 --> 00:03:22.380 align:middle line:84%
I want to make another one
as if I hadn't got it right

00:03:22.380 --> 00:03:25.860 align:middle line:90%
and wanted to start afresh.

00:03:25.860 --> 00:03:31.800 align:middle line:84%
And my father is dead, and
God is only one like me.

00:03:31.800 --> 00:03:36.330 align:middle line:84%
And the hill of evil
counsel sails into the night

00:03:36.330 --> 00:03:41.220 align:middle line:84%
all covered with
antennae up to heaven.

00:03:41.220 --> 00:03:46.080 align:middle line:84%
I am a man planted
beside streams of water,

00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:52.770 align:middle line:84%
but I can only weep it and sweat
it and urinate it and spill it

00:03:52.770 --> 00:03:54.390 align:middle line:90%
from my wounds--

00:03:54.390 --> 00:03:56.630 align:middle line:90%
all this water."

00:03:56.630 --> 00:03:59.000 align:middle line:90%