Matot

Tw csa

“Take for yourself,

The virgin girls

Who have not known a man.”

We just learned the laws of

Defilement from war,

From death,

And a different kind of defilement emerges,

One in which the spoils are 32,000 girls,

Split into half and then one fiftieth,

In a kind of sickening mathematics,

That leaves me wondering what kind of G-d

Requests fulfillment of vows and daily offerings

And offers girls up as spoils?

And how can any of the tribes stand clean

before their G-d,

And how can G-d stand clean before Israel?

And how can any of us face each other,

Or even stare at the backs of one another,

As if we know our own limits,

Or can welcome our G-d into this camp?