עת שערי רצון

[reb_hillel]

A beautiful Sephardic piyut for Rosh Hashanah, that I love:
(Translated from the Hebrew by me. Sorry, my English sucks.)

Comments

[spin0za1]

...Wow.

Do we get to sing that?

[reb_hillel]

It's sung in Sephardic congregations, before Shofar on R"H and before the Torah reading on Y"K. It's very beautiful. Perhaps we'll sing it at one of our meals at the kibbutz.

[awful_dynne]

It is really powerful! Thank you for translating and sharing this! It definately gives me a sense of more meaning.

[beckyms]

I have always found this story disturbing, but I appreciate the way it's told in this song because it brings the story to life. I think bringing it to life makes it all the more disturbing - especially if you imagine such a thing in this day and age.

I think if I were married and my husband came home telling me he had been prepared to kill our son, on God's command, and then spared him, also on God's command, I'd kick him out of the house and make sure he never had contact with my son again. Better yet, I'd try to have him put in jail, or a mental hospital, where he couldn't threaten anyone again.

If I believed in God, and also believed that my husband was telling the truth about what God commanded, I'd be very frightened of God and wonder what else he may command of me.

[reb_hillel]

I think complete belief in God, like you describe in your last paragraph, includes belief that God knows what's best for us better than we know ourselves. So I think that if both you and your husband had such strong faith in God and trust in each other, you'd be able to pull it off. That doesn't mean it wouldn't be hard, but you'd pull through.

Take a look at my latest blog entry -- http://reb-hillel.livejournal.com/11579.html -- also on the topic of the Akeidah.

Thanks for your comment.