The idea for the cycle came out of a meeting with Rabbi Kenneth Katz and Trudy Barash in the fall of 1999, at the beginning of the Jewish year 5760. As we thought about how original poetry might fit into the services at Beth Israel Center, it occurred to us that this might take the form of a sonnet each week based on the weekly Torah reading.

In his classes at Beth Israel Center, Rabbi Katz emphasizes that we should study Scripture from three points of view. First, we should try to imagine what the passage meant to its first hearers. Second, we should try to understand what the passage meant to the generations of scholars whose legacy is the body of traditional commentary and Midrash (root meaning "to inquire, to seek"). And third, we should think about what the passage means to us, now.

In preparation for each sonnet, I consulted several traditional sources, usually Rashi, the Midrash Rabbah, and, where applicable, Bialik’s Sefer Aggadot; sometimes also Nachmanides and Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler, as well as contemporary commentators: Nechama Leibowitz z"l, Rabbi Eitan Mayer, Rabbi Joshua Hoffman, and others. At a certain point, after reading, reflection, and concentration, the sonnet would "crystallize."

For me this assignment was a priceless opportunity both to hear the voices of past generations, and to articulate what I myself hear in the sacred text. In his parable "Before the Law," Franz Kafka expresses the very traditional view that for each person there is a personal "gate" to the Law. Writing the sonnets was, each time, a search for that "gate" -- speaking not only as a Jew, but also as a citizen of this time and place, a witness to the current human condition. I am a convert to Judaism, and much of my feeling about Judaism is intertwined with my feeling about poetry, with a sense that form and spirit are not to be separated. I have long had a rather mystical feeling about the sonnet, noting that each of the numbers 365 and 248 -- the numbers of positive and negative commandments in the Torah -- adds up to 14! In casting these poetic "commentaries" in a form that has played such a central role in the Western tradition, I cherished the hope that to some who share my devotion to this form, these sonnets might become a window to Judaism’s profound uniqueness.

For those not familiar with the structure of the weekly Torah portion, a note of explanation: The Torah, i.e. the five books of Moses, is divided into portions, or parshiyot, one of which is read at each Sabbath morning service, so that the entire cycle is read in the course of the year. Each parsha (and each book of the Torah), is customarily referred to by its first word, or its first distinctive word. Thus "Bereishit" (in-the-beginning) is the first word of the Bible, and the name of the first book and the first parsha. The sixth parsha is named for its second word, "Toldot" (generations), evidently because the first word ("and-these-are") was not considered distinctive enough.

In our initial discussion, Rabbi Katz made mention of a form of commentary called the "Petihta." Written as an "introduction" to the Torah portion, the petihta consisted of a string of Scriptural associations, ending with the title-word of the parsha. From this traditional form we derived a rule that the last word of each sonnet should be a translation, more or less, of the title-word. Thus, the first sonnet ends "...as once the world began."

Each of these sonnets was read by a member of the congregation, as a prelude to the reading of the Torah portion on which it is based. I would like to express my deepest thanks to Rabbi Katz and Ms. Barash for their inspiration and support; to the congregation of Beth Israel Center for their welcoming and encouragement of this project; and to all the readers for their careful and expressive readings: Annabelle Argand, Trudy Barash, Marsha Cohen, Ritt Dalton, Cindy Donais, Jeanette Frank, Jake Gertz, Sylvia Grunes, Lori Hawkins, Simon Hellerstein, Rabbi Katz, Judith Kornblatt, Marc Kornblatt, Judi K-Turkel, Sherwood Malamud, Ralph Musin, Michael Onheiber, Daniel Pekarsky, Ed Pickett, Franklynn Peterson, Shifra Sharlin, David Sorkin, David Sulman, Merle Sweet, Rayla Temin, and Larry Thomadsen. May all our strength increase!

A final note: in the year 5762 the cycle will be re-presented with intermittent readings at Beth Israel Center by the author. Two new sonnets have been written for the first two parshiyot. These are given along with the original ones.

Madison, Wisconsin

Tishri 5761/October 2000

Tishri 5762/October 2001