Hebrew Triptych

Hebrew Triptych

Kaph-Yarech (Hip Socket)

Kaph-Yarech (Hip Socket) A man lies struggling on the ground, a wrestling match within and without, determined to secure an inheritance. “Few and evil have been the days of the years of my struggle,” said Jacob to the Egyptian king in his old age. “Few and evil have been the days of my struggle,” I say to myself. I knew a man with a limp. A limp is not hereditary. A decade of struggling with a fading memory of this man, and the limp became mine as well. A swelling growth of scar tissue seems to be the only inheritance in sight.

Yad (Arm)

Yad (Arm) Sinuous strands show through skin as muscles strain in the arm of an ineloquent man. His heart fights against faintness as it pushes blood to his weary body. Flesh and muscles quiver with fatigue and with their drooping the evil king prevails against the Children of God. The arm is upheld however, by a brother, by another who is able to share in the burden. The power of the arm of Yaweh strengthens the arms wielding swords and spears, marking the ground with the blood of the enemy.

Tselah (Rib)

Tselah (Rib or side) A man lies sleeping on the cool grass. The divine arm reaches in, dividing flesh, dividing bone from flesh. A bride is removed from a man. From her a son is born. The son of the one who breathed life into all things hangs with sinuous strands showing through skin as muscles strain until it is finished. An obedient heart pushes blood through his weary body to his upheld arms. A spear reaches in, dividing flesh, dividing bone from flesh as blood and water flow. The river, the crimson strand winds its way through the lives, through the stories, through struggle, though now it is streaked with glory. The winding flow of suffering mingled with our inheritance.