אודות המחבר
Yakov Azriel
was born in New York and came to live in Israel after finishing his BA in English literature in Brooklyn College (summa cum laude) at the age of 21. When he came to Israel, he studied at Mercaz HaRav Kook for two years, and later on, completed an MA in Judaica, and in May 2004 he received his doctorate (on the stories of Rabbi Nachman of Braslav). He is presently a lecturer at Herzog College. He has published four full-length books of poetry: Threads From A Coat Of Many Colors: Poems on Genesis (2005); In The Shadow Of A Burning Bush: Poems on Exodus (2008); Beads For The Messiah's Bride: Poems on Leviticus (2009); and Swimming In Moses' Well: Poems on Numbers (2011), all published by Time Being Books, a literary press that specializes in poetry. Over 250 of his poems have been published in journals and magazines in the United States, the United Kingdom and Israel, and his poems have won eighteen different awards in international poetry competitions. In addition, Yakov has twice been awarded fellowships from the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture for his poetry. Dr. Azriel can be contacted at: yakovaz@hotmail.com
A Poem for Parshat Noah
יעקב עזריאל
אלול תשע"ו
CAN A RAINBOW WALK?
“And it shall come to pass, when I cause clouds to appear upon the earth, that the rainbow shall appear.” (Genesis 9:14)


After the rain stops,
A rainbow from time to time is sketched across the sky
As God’s unexpected signature
(In all the hues, shades and tints of His quill-pen’s prism),
Endorsing the check
Of His promise: no more Flood
and a hint of Providence.

Can a rainbow walk upon the earth, talk, and breathe?
In the dull, monotonous fog of ordinary sameness,
When masses of drab and dingy clouds obscure
The Light,
A splash of color from time to time breaks out:
The tzaddik’s deeds shimmer and vibrate in incandescent reds,
Blazing yellows, shining greens, illuminating blues.

As if
From the wings of the Shechinah
An iridescent feather has descended
To merge into the tzaddik’s soul, transforming him into a paint-brush
Whose acts of compassion
(In a spectrum beyond ultra-violet and more intense than infra-red)
Transform the gray.