The Thirteenth Moon is Full, Are You?

Last month, in honor of the eclipse of a full moon, I shared a re-translation of the first part of Psalm 19.

This month, in the Jewish calendar, is a leap month, a bonus moon of Adar. The sages tell us the "one who enters the month of Adar must strive to increase joy." The remainder of this psalm includes two passages that are used regularly in Jewish liturgy (one of which also found its way into a well-know reggae tune, thanks to Bob Marley). So here's all three parts of that psalm (the divisions are mine).

May the words and meditations of my mouth help grow the joy in our hearts.

PSALM 19 – A Song Striving to Sustain Love

א.

The story of divine glory is written in the skies

Standing beneath the expansive dome, heavenly handiwork,

Tales of Wonder are told without words: Honor-Splendor in One / כבוד-אל.

In the shadow of the earth, witness the moon shining still,

Revealing new dimensions of beauty above and below

Radiant light reverberating without and within.

The day-to-day play of a planet spinning ‘round

The night-to-night way of concealing-revealing light,

Mystery eluding names, seeding curiosity, Eve’s eye

Glimpsing hidden wisdom, da’at / דעת, an intimate knowing

That there is no word, no matter, no voice that goes unheard.

Every voice is heard, and everything has a voice, is voice.

Invisible lines of connection branching out across the land,

Every inch of earth is embodiment of sound.

Echoes of the big bang, primordial speech congealing,

That’s us, waves of sound rolling all into being,

Even the sun. Is she not sound, syllable,

Music manifesting as heat-and-light,

A vented tent concealing a warm winter fire within?

The fervor of word-becoming-world abounds,

Like newlyweds racing from wedding canopy to bedchamber,

Like a bold explorer readying for the road,

Like heavens reaching for horizons.

From one edge of the expanding cosmos to the other, there is nothing

Hidden from the sun, and all is song-filled service of the One.

ב.

This too is Torah –

when guidance without guile restores wholeness to the nefesh-soul,

when trustworthy testimony transforms pettiness with purpose, the wisdom of why,

when accounts of righteousness make the heart rejoice,

when clarify of moral responsibility enlighten the eyes,

when unmitigated awe stands as perpetual witness,

when principles tested and true unite us around just causes.

When truth and trust is more

precious than gold, refined and plentiful,

sweet than honey, dripping from the comb.

ג.

Every soul-in-service is rewarded many-fold by cultivating awareness.

Who can comprehend all the roots and ripples of missteps?

How can I be free-and-clean from that which is hidden from me?

Even when I am aware that I err, the dark stain like a shadow lengthens

with tales of denial or defeat.

Give me strength to concentrate. Let this focus cleanse me

of the stories I spin that stray.

May the out-and-back swooshing of the heart-mind

sweep clean the debris,

that the words of mouth / yihu l’ratzon imrei phi

and the meditations of my heart / v’hegyon libi

realign with divine direction / lephanecha.

my grounding particle / tzuri

and, my freeing wave / v’go’ali.

Silence, Word, and Melody, all is song-filled service of the One.