This sheet on Genesis 12 was written by Ruth Fogelman for 929 and can also be found here
It had been a hard winter in Canaan –
No rain, the earth still parched –
No wheat grew.
Abram said we should go down
To Egypt to buy wheat.
Near Egypt’s border Abram said,
“Sarai, my love, I fear
That Pharaoh may kill me
And take you alive,
So say that you are my sister.”
More than fifty years of marriage
Were as a bowl of desert sand
Trickling through my fingers.
For more than fifty years we shared one life,
Shared one loaf of bread,
And he said I’m not his wife.
But how could I
Let him be killed
Because of me?
Now I lie
As a plank of wood
On Pharaoh’s gilded bed.
I pray to leave this golden death
And return to my tent of life.
Night after night
I watch the moon grow round
And release its fullness.
Is Abram still alive?
Has he forgotten where I am?
Has he been banished from this land?
Is he planning my escape?
Will Abram take me back?
Ruth Fogelman is a poet, and lives in Jerusalem’s Old City.
929 is the number of chapters in the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible, the formative text of the Jewish heritage. It is also the name of a cutting-edge project dedicated to creating a global Jewish conversation anchored in the Hebrew Bible. 929 English invites Jews everywhere to read and study Tanakh, one chapter a day, Sunday through Thursday together with a website with creative readings and pluralistic interpretations, including audio and video, by a wide range of writers, artists, rabbis, educators, scholars, students and more. As an outgrowth of the web-based platform, 929 English also offers classes, pop-up lectures, events and across North America. We invite you to learn along with us and be part of our dynamic community.
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