Much have I travell’d in Yerushalayim shel Zahav
And many goodly Batei Knesset seen
Round many minyanim, too, have I been,
Which gabbaim in fealty to egalitarianism hold.
Oft of one wide expanse had I been told
That deep-brow’d Hadar ruled as its demesne
Yet never did I breathe its pure ob-scene
Till I heard its e-mails speak out from Jerusalem, loud and bold.
Then felt I like some watcher of the skies
When a familiar but suddenly unwanted planet swims into his ken
Or like some bat Kohen, when with eagle eyes
She stared out to bless the Kahal–and all her men
Look’d at each other with a wild surmise–
Apartment listings, beit midrash, Darfur rally, Shavuot retreat–
Ahh!!! Can’t deal!!!—-
Silence!!! Upon a peak in Jerusalem.
(with all due apologies to Keats in this season of parodies…)