Ruach Haruach (en, fr, es, pt)

My body is at rest,
but my mind is ever active.
It roams in the
pastures of the soul,
it listens to the spirit
of the wind,
leaning in
to hear.

Mon corps est au repos,
mais mon esprit est toujours actif.
Il erre dans les
pâturages de l'âme,
il écoute l'esprit
du vent,
se penchant
entendre.

Mi cuerpo esta en reposo,
pero mi mente está siempre activa.
Vaga en los
pastos del alma,
escucha el espiritu
del viento,
inclinándose
para oir.

Meu corpo está em repouso,
mas minha mente está sempre ativa.
Anda pelos
pastos da alma,
ouve o espírito
do vento,
inclinando-se
para ouvir..

Text and image © 2020 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler.

In the Land of Ajña (+fr, es, pt)

In the land of Ajña,
the three-eyed man
is king.

Au pays d'Ajña,
l'homme à trois yeux
est roi.

En la tierra de Ajña,
el hombre de tres ojos
es rey.

Na terra de Ajña,
o homem de três olhos
é rei.

Text and image © 2020 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler.

In This Test (+fr, es, pt)

In this test, O Lord,
the ghosts of the past
vie with the unborn,
seeking out life
and a time in the sun.
In our need
may we be mindful
of each other,
and ever mindful
of You.

Dans cette épreuve, Seigneur,
les fantômes du passé
rivalisent avec l'enfant à naître,
chercher la vie
et un temps au soleil.
Dans notre besoin
puissions-nous être attentifs
les uns aux autres,
et toujours attentifs
à toi.

En esta prueba, oh Señor,
los fantasmas del pasado
compiten con los no nacidos,
buscando la vida
y un tiempo al sol.
En nuestra necesidad
que seamos conscientes
el uno del otro,
y siempre atentos
a ti.

Nesta prova, ó Senhor,
os fantasmas do passado
compitem com o nascituro,
procurando a vida
e um tempo ao sol.
Na nossa necessidade
que possamos estar atentos
a cada um,
e sempre atentos
a você.

Text and image © 2020 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler.

.

Este cuerpo / This Body (+fr, pt, it)

Este cuerpo anhela la vida.

This body yearns for life.

Ce corps a besoin de la vie.

Esse corpo anseia pela vida.

Questo corpo brama la vita.

Text and image © 2020 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler.

Notes on the Transmission of the Gospel of Matthew from Hebrew to Greek II - Mt. 7:6

The transmission of the Gospel of Matthew from Hebrew to Greek did not only involve interpolations; it also involved omissions, and there were many.

עוד אמר להם אל תתנו בשר קדש לכלבים ואל תשימו פניכם לפני חזיר פן יכרסמנו אותה לעיניכם ויחזרו אותה לקרוע אתכם׃ 6

The above is Matthew  chapter seven verse six in Shem-Tob's Hebrew Matthew. It was translated by George Howard as follows:

Again he said to them: Do not give holy flesh to dogs nor place your (pearls) before swine lest (they) chew (them) before you and turn to rend you.

The canonical (Greek) version of Mt. 7:6 reads as follows:

Do not give dogs what is holy; and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.

This verse is worthy of comment for many reasons. First of all, striking as the saying is, it does not appear in either Luke or Mark. It is easy to see why. In Rabbi Yeshua's time, it was common to use "dogs" as a code word for "Gentiles." Even the Gentiles understood this, as we see in the story of the Canaanite/Syro-Phoenician Woman (Mt. 15:21-28 || Mk. 7:24-30).

We also notice some differences in the Hebrew: "Holy flesh" instead of "what is holy" is a translation variant, as pointed out by Professor Howard. It is due to the similarity between בשר (flesh) and אשר (that which). The rules of textual criticism tell us that we should accept the "more difficult" reading, in this case "flesh," as the more original one. This translation variant, like many others, is strong evidence that Greek Matthew was translated from Hebrew Matthew.

The Hebrew also differs from the Greek in saying "chew them in front of you (literally: in your eyes) instead of "trample them underfoot" as in the Greek.  This may be yet another translation variant, due to the similarity in appearance of the Hebrew verbs רמס (trample) and כסס (chew). If so, it is further evidence (as if we needed more) that the Greek was translated from the Hebrew.

This cautionary verse has several possible meanings, all of them offensive (along with the code word "dogs") to Gentiles. If we accept the word "flesh" as original, the first part could either mean do not give holy food (your holy books and therefore your culture) to the Gentiles, or do not give your daughters in marriage to the Gentiles. The second part of the parallelism (which is, of course, typical of Semitic literary style) reinforces the first, with the added caution that "they may turn and rend/attack you."

Is this not precisely what happened? The verse, unfortunately, turned out to be prophetic. Mohammed was inspired by the monotheistic teachings of the "People of the Book," and his followers later persecuted them and forced conversions to Islam. The medieval European persecutions, as well as the Holocaust of the twentieth century, were carried out by people who called themselves "Christians." The expulsion from Spain was the work of Ferdinand and Isabela, "los reyes católicos."

Saul/Paul either forgot or ignored these words of Rabbi Yeshua:

"To the lands of the Gentiles do  go and into the cities of the Samaritans do not enter. Go to the sheep who have strayed from the house of Israel." (Mt. 10:5-6)

Rabbi Yeshua even repeated these words during the incident of the Canaanite/Syro-Phoenician Woman:

"They did not send me except to the lost sheep from the house of Israel." (Mt. 15:24)  

The above saying was not included in either Luke or Mark.

The solution of the so-called Synoptic Problem is not just a harmless avocation for idle old men; it is as important as anything in New Testament studies. It is, in fact, necessary for the correct interpretation of the Synoptic Gospels and an understanding of the audiences for which they were written. I have written about it elsewhere and given my proposed solution (the Layered Matthew Hypothesis). Here I would only like to say that proposed solutions involving either Markan or Lukan priority not only fly in the face of 1,800 years of church belief and the statements of Papias (second century) and others, but they ignore important evidence and, in effect, stand history on its head. It is not surprising to me that the main popularizer of Markan priority in the last century, B. H. Streeter, attended the "Nazi Olympics" in Berlin in 1936, though he had no reason to be there.

 

It is clear from the Gospel of Matthew, whether in Hebrew or in Greek, that Rabbi Yeshua did not intend to start a new religion, but only to reform the existing religion, much like the Reform Judaism of today. To my knowledge, he did not call himself a Messiah or Christ ("anointed"). So far as I know, he did not tell anyone that he was the Son of God in a sense other than that in which we are all children of God. To a Jew, this would have been blasphemy, and he would have recoiled in horror from it. In short, he did not deify himself. Only Paul's followers did that, to the detriment of his own (and Paul's) people. There is a reason why Jews traditionally do not proselytize.

Culture appropriated is not flattery; it is culture stolen and weaponized against its original owners. Culture appropriation, when combined with negative stereotyping and assimilation, is genocide. Only a very strong and brave people could have survived, even regaining their language in the process. If you want miracles, that is one.

 

Text © 2020 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler.

Notes on the Transmission of the Gospel of Matthew from Hebrew to Greek I - Mt. 21:33-46

In the two best manuscripts of Shem-Tob's Hebrew Matthew (those that Professor George Howard designated as "Brit. Lib." and "C," the entire Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen (or the Wicked Tenants), Mt. 21:33-46, is missing, though it is present in various forms in the other seven mss, known to have been brought more into line with the canonical text. This, I think, is highly significant.

First of all, we have already shown, through translation variants, that the kernel of the canonical, Greek text was translated from a Semitic language, most probably Hebrew. We have also shown that Shem-Tob's Hebrew Matthew is closely related to the text from which the Greek translation was made, but appears to be even older. Why, then, is the above-mentioned parable not present in the best, purest representatives of the Shem-Tob type of text? There seem to be only two possibilities: either the parable is a relatively late addition to the Matthaean text, or it has been suppressed for polemical reasons. The latter possibility seems to me to be unlikely: in their debates with Christians, medieval Jews would not have gotten away with the suppression of thirteen or fourteen verses from their proof text.

Looking at the parable on its own merits, we notice several things about it. The point of it seems to be to suggest a parallel between the owner's son and Jesus. It further characterizes those to whom the owner originally entrusted his vineyard as dishonest, evil, and murderous, an anti-Semitic characterization.

Verse 42 quotes verses 22-23 of Psalm 118, which is a victory Psalm, as anyone can see who takes the trouble to read it. To take these verses of the Psalm out of context and apply them to Jesus is something, it seems to me, that Rabbi Yeshua, an honest and righteous teacher, would never have done. This taking out of context and misapplication of the verses of Psalm 118 seems clumsy, juvenile, and inauthentic.

Then, in Verse 43, we have an anti-Semitic slur against the Jews, saying "the kingdom of God will be torn from you, and given to a nation producing fruit. But there are three clues to the authenticity or otherwise of this slur: 1) It is not supported by either Luke or Mark; 2) the phrase "kingdom of God," as appears in the canonical, Greek text is not typical of Matthew, who preferred the euphemism "kingdom of heaven," since Jews do not use the divine name lightly, and 3) even the best Greek texts (e.g. Vaticanus, Sinaiticus et al.) do not include the slur.

Verse 44, which threatens destruction to anyone who falls on "this stone" or on whom it falls, is actually Lk. 20:18, where it immediately follows the quote from Psalm 118. It is a harmonistic reading included in the "Received Text," the Vulgate, and syr-c (the later of the two surviving mss of Old Syriac textual type), but is omitted by D, 33, the Itala or Old Latin, and syr-s, the older Old Syriac. It was also unknown to Irenaeus (2nd cent.) and Origen (d. 254).  Clearly, its inclusion in Matthew is an innovation. By implication, it threatens destruction to anyone who does not accept Jesus--hardly appropriate for Rabbi Yeshua, the wise teacher of righteousness. The verse does belong to the text of Luke, though, which was written for the Gentiles. Its threatening implication may also be considered to be anti-Semitic.

Clearly, the seeds of ethnic division and hatred were sown very early, and they have been fostered in some quarters ever since.

It is important to remember that neither this parable nor its additions appear in the best manuscripts of Shem-Tob's Hebrew Matthew.


Text © 2020 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler.

80,000 Visits and a Million Prayers

In a couple of days we will reach the milestone of 80,000 visits to this blog. I no longer call it a poetry blog, because the poetry has long been inseparable from the photography, and both are now accompanied by prose writing on several subjects that are close to my heart.

I would like to thank each and every one of you, my loyal readers, for your continued interest and enthusiasm. Please feel free to comment on the blog posts themselves, or to send me your comments by e-mail: exolinguist at gmail dot com.

Once again, thank you, merci, gracias, obrigado, grazie, wadó, ꮹꮩ.

In the meantime, here we are, living in very strange times, eerily reminiscent of the fourteenth-century Black Plague. This is the time to create our masterpieces, should we be given sufficient time. It is also time to unite as a planet, and care for each other.

If it is something that you do, it may also be time to pray. In fact, it may be time to say Kaddish every day (not the beautiful song linked below, but the actual prayer) for those we have lost and are losing. Forget about having a minyan (prayer quorum). Just shoulder the responsibility for our sisters and brothers and do this, whether you think they are related or not (they are), and do whatever else you may be able to do. The doing will be its own reward.


Ofra Haza: Kaddish

Text © 2020 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler.

Every Morning I Greet the Sun (+fr, es, pt, it)

Every morning I greet the sun
that gives us life.
Naked before the source of life,
I give thanks for another new day.
I do this for myself,
I do it for us all.
May the Mother of sun and stars
remember all her children.

Chaque matin je salue le soleil
qui nous donne la vie.
Nu devant la source de la vie,
Je rends grâce pour une autre nouvelle journée.
Je fais ça pour moi,
Je le fais pour nous tous.
Que la Mère du soleil et des étoiles
se souvienne de tous ses enfants.

Todas las mañanas saludo al sol
que nos da la vida
Desnudo ante la fuente de la vida,
doy gracias por otro nuevo día.
Hago esto por mi mismo,
lo hago por todos nosotros.
Que la madre del sol y las estrellas
se acuerde de todos sus hijos.

Toda manhã eu saúdo o sol
o que nos dá vida.
Nu diante da fonte da vida,
Agradeço por mais um novo dia.
Eu faço isso por mim mesmo,
Eu faço isso por todos nós.
Que a Mãe do sol e das estrelas
lembre-se de todos os seus filhos.

Ogni mattina saluto il sole
che ci dà la vita.
Nudo davanti la fonte della vita,
ringrazio per un altro nuovo giorno.
Lo faccio per me stesso,
lo faccio per tutti noi.
Possa la Madre del sole e delle stelle
ricordare tutti i suoi figli.

Text © 2020 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler.

Journal of a Naked Poet XXIV - Willie and Deborah

Life is uncertain at the best of times, and these are probably the worst, not seen since Dante's time. We are fighting a war against a pandemic, and lacking leadership because we have a moron in the White House. I am vulnerable, and my wife, Sandy, is far more so. All we can do is self-isolate and wash our hands well and frequently, and we are doing those things. I (perhaps unreasonably) believe that my habitual nudity and frequent exposure to the sun offer me a little extra protection.

If I do not accomplish a single great thing in this life, it will be because I have lacked discipline. If, on the other hand, I accomplish many pretty-good things, it will be for the same reason.

Sandy and I lived in Pacifica, CA, for many years. I spent many happy hours poking around in Mary Florey's wonderful bookstore, especially the huge and chaotic back room. There I found a new friend, though he had been dead since 1945: William Buehler Seabrook. He was both an adventurer and a writer, and his pattern was to seek out incredible adventures and then write about them. But the greatest adventure of all was his own personal life. That is why, although I used to have all eleven of his books, the only one I brought back in our few huge suitcases from South America was his autobiography, NO HIDING PLACE (1942).

In the appendix to another of Seabrook's books, WITCHCRAFT (1940), he relates a very seductive bondage scene, in which his submissive partner, whom he called "Deborah Luris," essentially proved the non-linear nature of time and the accessibility, under certain conditions, of the future. I should say, " . . . if true, essentially proved . . ." Seabrook was not a liar, but his relationship to truth was extremely complex.

Anyway, Willie (so I shall call him, because in the course of my research he became like family to me) was obsessed with the above-mentioned event for the rest of his life. In fact, it seems to me that the strange phenomenon, in combination with his alcoholism, impaired his later ability to write, and thereby hastened his end.

I researched Willie and his wives (who also became like family, and whose books I also had) for several years. An aid in this research was another biography, THE STRANGE WORLD OF WILLIE SEABROOK (1966), by his second wife, Marjorie Worthington. I have her personal copy of the book, containing a telegram to her from the publisher, announcing that they would be publishing it. Needless to say, this also went into the suitcases from Uruguay

A focus of my research was an effort to discover the true identity of the mysterious "Deborah Luris."

In 2006, while I sat in the waiting room of a hospital in Portland, Oregon (Sandy was getting a knee replacement), reading a music magazine I subscribed to but seldom read, several facts, including a clue left by Willie, came together in my mind, and I suddenly knew who "Deborah Luris" was. I spent the next several years trying to prove it. For a while I even hired a researcher in another country.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. I had come into contact with a small Internet group of other people who were also researching Seabrook. I shared my new knowledge with only one of them, whom I most trusted, my friend (now sadly departed) Mike. I gave Mike periodic progress reports by e-mail. Another member of the group tried to use his girlfriend to get the information out of me; it didn't work.

While Sandy and I were still living in that floating home in Portland, we had a short-notice visit from Mike and his lovely wife, Monica. It was a relatively short visit, but we "talked shop" about Willie quite a lot. Mike had found Seabrook's son (by his third wife, Constance) and had brought a cassette tape (made from an old disc recording done by a radio station a year or so before Willie's death), so I was able to hear Willie's voice (he spoke with a tidewater accent). Mike also gave me a memento that I won't reveal, because some secrets should be kept.

During the course of that visit I mentioned that my research had revealed the state that Constance and Willie's son had moved to after Willie's death. Mike hastily said that it was wrong, and Monica looked at him questioningly. I knew that Mike was lying, and so did Monica. I'm sure that his intention was to protect the privacy of Seabrook's son. Some privacy must be protected.

A few years later, when I was up to my ears in the project to translate the works of Maria de Naglowska (which also grew out of the Seabrook research), Mike asked me to give him the names of my informants in "Deborah Luris'" country, and I told him I couldn't do that. Some privacy must be protected. Besides, I knew that any further information had been intentionally burned, and I knew who had done it.

My friend Mike passed away in 2010. A couple of other people involved in Seabrook research, one of whom wanted to make a movie about Willie's life, have also died. William Seabrook does not want his story to be told. Neither does "Deborah Luris." I, for my part, have other, safer projects to work on.

The world is dangerous enough, as it is.

Text © 2020 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler.

Chakras (en, fr, es, pt)

Chakras . . .
energy centers . . .
they are lotuses
floating in a pond,
islands in a stream
that flows upward.

Chakras. . .
centres énergétiques. . .
ce sont des lotus
flottant dans un étang,
îles dans un ruisseau
qui coule vers le haut.

Chakras . .
centros energéticos. . .
son lotos
flotando en un estanque,
islas en un arroyo
que fluye hacia arriba.

Chakras. . .
centros de energia. . .
eles são lótus
flutuando em uma lagoa,
ilhas em um riacho
que flui para cima.

Text and image © 2020 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler.

neyehiya? / Native?

neyehiya? v:,
utseli unasdetlvdi gesvase hia equa-elohi hawina.
danvtisanv? tlahv,
atsvyai tla gesvase utloyi.
atsvyai anelvdodose
adasdelvdi utseli etsine,
elohi.

ᏁᏰᎯᏯ? Ꭵ:,
ᎤᏤᎵ ᎤᎾᏍᏕᏢᏗ ᎨᏒᎠᏎ ᎯᎠ ᎡᏆ-ᎡᎶᎯ ᎭᏫᎾ.
ᏓᏅᏘᏌᏅ? ᏝᎲ,
ᎠᏨᏯᎢ Ꮭ ᎨᏒᎠᏎ ᎤᏠᏱ.
ᎠᏨᏯᎢ ᎠᏁᎸᏙᏙᏎ
ᎠᏓᏍᏕᎸᏗ ᎤᏤᎵ ᎡᏥᏁ,
ᎡᎶᎯ.

Native? Yes,
his roots are in this world.
Civilized? No,
he is not the same.
He will try
to protect his mother,
the earth.

Text and image © 2020 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler ꮨᏺꭽꮅ.

Mt. 6:28-29 (heb, en, fr, es, pt)

א“כ על מה תדאגו בלבוש ראו חבצלת השרון החומש׃ 28

ואני אומר לכם שהמלך שלמה בכל כבודו לא היה מלובש כמוהו׃ 29

If this is the case, why are you anxious for clothes? Behold the lilies of Sharon (in growing they neither spin nor weave).

But I say to you that King Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like these.

[Translation by Professor George Howard.]

Si tel est le cas, pourquoi êtes-vous inquiet pour les vêtements? Voici les lis de Sharon (en grandissant, ils ne filent ni ne tissent).

Mais je vous dis que le roi Salomon dans toute sa gloire n'était pas habillé comme ceux-ci.

Si este es el caso, ¿por qué estás ansioso por la ropa? He aquí los lirios de Sharon (al crecer no hilan ni tejen).

Pero te digo que el Rey Salomón en toda su gloria no estaba vestido así.

Se for esse o caso, por que você está ansioso por roupas? Veja os lírios de Sharon (no crescimento, eles não giram nem tecem).

Mas eu lhes digo que o rei Salomão, em toda a sua glória, não estava vestido assim.

Note: 

חבצלת השרון

is the exact same phrase that is used in the Masoretic text of Song of Songs 2:1. It means "lily of Sharon," and has nothing to do with "field," which is the translation in the Greek manuscripts. This is easily explained: "Sharon" (שרון)  in Hebrew has a superficial resemblance to two Hebrew words (שדה and שדמה) that mean "field." It is thus a translation variant in Greek, and is further proof that Greek Matthew was translated from Hebrew Matthew. This particular translation variant is not mentioned in Professor Howard's book.

Text and image © 2020 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler.

hia itse adanilohisdi / This New Illness (Udugi / English)

hia itse adanilohisdi gesvase vdatinohisedi etsi elohi nidvlenvda. aquatseli etsi kanohedase itsulv hena usganoli, hena ahida, ale uha gohiyuhine, igvnisisgi uduladase igohidane kanvwodi. nigadv anelanvhidi equa-elohi hawina gesvase uduladita ale uduladase alenidohi. itsula ase gohiyuhi nigadvne, hia-iyv itsula yeliquase alenidohi tsilv saquu sidanelvhi. hia equa-elohi gesvase saquu: nigadv itsula gesvase diligotanv, ale itsula uduladase siyvwi soi.

ᎯᎠ ᎢᏤ ᎠᏓᏂᎶᎯᏍᏗ ᎨᏒᎠᏎ ᎥᏓᏘᏃᎯᏎᏗ ᎡᏥ ᎡᎶᎯ ᏂᏛᎴᏅᏓ. ᎠᏆᏤᎵ ᎡᏥ ᎧᏃᎮᏓᏎ ᎢᏧᎸ ᎮᎾ ᎤᏍᎦᏃᎵ, ᎮᎾ ᎠᎯᏓ, ᎠᎴ ᎤᎭ ᎪᎯᏳᎯᏁ, ᎢᎬᏂᏏᏍᎩ ᎤᏚᎳᏓᏎ ᎢᎪᎯᏓᏁ ᎧᏅᏬᏗ. ᏂᎦᏛ ᎠᏁᎳᏅᎯᏗ ᎡᏆ-ᎡᎶᎯ ᎭᏫᎾ ᎨᏒᎠᏎ ᎤᏚᎳᏗᏔ ᎠᎴ ᎤᏚᎳᏓᏎ ᎠᎴᏂᏙᎯ. ᎢᏧᎳ ᎠᏎ ᎪᎯᏳᎯ ᏂᎦᏛᏁ, ᎯᎠ-ᎢᏴ ᎢᏧᎳ ᏰᎵᏆᏎ ᎠᎴᏂᏙᎯ ᏥᎸ ᏌᏊ ᏏᏓᏁᎸᎯ. ᎯᎠ ᎡᏆ-ᎡᎶᎯ ᎨᏒᎠᏎ ᏌᏊ: ᏂᎦᏛ ᎢᏧᎳ ᎨᏒᎠᏎ ᏗᎵᎪᏔᏅ, ᎠᎴ ᎢᏧᎳ ᎤᏚᎳᏓᏎ ᏏᏴᏫ ᏐᎢ.

This new illness is a message from Mother Earth. She is telling us to slow down, go easy, and respect her, because she needs to heal. All creatures in the world are needed and need to live. We must respect all of them, so that we all may live as one family. This world is one: we are all connected, and we need each other.

Text and images © 2020 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler ꮨᏺꭽꮅ. Non-commercial use is permitted.

He Rises from the Depths of Other Worlds

He rises from the depths of other worlds,
no laurel for his brow.

Girded with strength and wisdom,
the heart's his compass now.

Text and images © 2020 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler.

El corrido del gringo vagabundo

Ësta es mi tierra
en donde he nacido
y por muchos años
en paz he crecido.


Coro:
Soy jipi y soy gringo
y me llaman trotamundo
voy por todas partes
por ser vagabundo.

Pero también el mundo,
el mundo entero,
ha llegado a ser mi tierra
por ser vagabundo.

Coro. . . Soy jipi y soy gringo . . .

Empecé mi gran corrido
muy cerca de la frontera,
pasando por el norte,
y la europa entera.

Coro . . . Soy jipi y soy gringo . . .

Seis años en Uruguay vivía
una bendecida vida,
y luego volví al norte
hasta llegar a Florida.

Coro . . . Soy jipi . . .

Acá la paso bién
tomando una copa,
disfrutando mucho sol
y evitando la ropa.

Coro :
Soy jipi
y soy gringo
y me llaman trotamundo
voy por todas partes
por ser vagabundo.   (repetir)

[Sugerencia: guitarra y/o requinto, acordeón, tambor, y bajo. Tocar estilo norteño o tex-mex. Melodía: a escoger entre muchas melodías mexicanas que van muy bien con la letra.]

Text and image © 2020 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler.

Lo único que pido es que se de crédito al autor de la letra.

He Lives Between the Worlds / atsvyai alenidohase equa-eloihidi ayeli.

He lives between the worlds.

atsvyai alenidohase equa-eloihidi ayeli.

ᎠᏨᏯᎢ ᎠᎴᏂᏙᎭᏎ ᎡᏆ-ᎡᎶᎢᎯᏗ ᎠᏰᎵ.

His body is a map of the stars.

utseli ayelv gesvase noquisidi-datlilostanv.

ᎤᏤᎵ ᎠᏰᎸ ᎨᏒᎠᏎ ᏃᏈᏏᏗ-ᏓᏟᎶᏍᏔᏅ.

Text and images © 2020 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler.

Rooted in Earth / unasdetlvte elohi hawina

Rooted in Earth,
rooted in Spirit,

unasdetlvte elohi hawina,
unasdetlvte adanvdo hawina,

ᎤᎾᏍᏕᏢᏖ ᎡᎶᎯ ᎭᏫᎾ,
ᎤᎾᏍᏕᏢᏖ ᎠᏓᏅᏙ ᎭᏫᎾ,

he calls the guardians
of the four directions.

atsvyai uyanvdase agatiyadine
nvgi widuyugodi vhnai.

ᎠᏨᏯᎢ ᎤᏯᏅᏓᏎ ᎠᎦᏘᏯᏗᏁ
ᏅᎩ ᏫᏚᏳᎪᏗ ᎥᎿᎢ.

Text and images © 2020 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler.

He Confronts the Future

He confronts the future warily,
as he always has.

He confronts the future
from other worlds,
and between the worlds.

He confronts the future,
the present, and the past.
These confrontations
will last.



Text and images © 2020 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler.

79,000 Visits and Some Naked Weddings (viewer discretion suggested)

As I write this, we have just passed the milestone of 79,000 visits to this blog since I started it in October 2016. These visits have come from well over 100 countries scattered all over the planet. Better yet, the response has reflected all races and creeds. I wouldn't want it any other way.

Perhaps best of all, I have been able to be true to myself, expressing those things that I feel are important, in the way in which I feel it is important to express them. Emblematic of my current feeling is this recent poem, with its illustration:


It's a New Day

It's a new day, sisters and brothers,
embrace it, hug it, and enjoy it.
There is no more need for shame.

C'est un nouveau jour, sœurs et frères,
l'embrasser, l'étreindre et l'apprécier.
Il n'y a plus besoin de honte.

Es un nuevo día, hermanas y hermanos.
abrázalo, abrázalo y disfrútalo.
Ya no hay necesidad de vergüenza.

É um novo dia, irmãs e irmãos,
abrace, abrace e aproveite.
Não há mais necessidade de vergonha.

Estas nova tago, fratinoj kaj fratoj,
ĉirkaŭprenu ĝin, brakumu ĝin kaj ĝuu ĝin.
Ne plu bezonas honton.

Along with the theme of nudity, which to me is sacred, I will continue to present general poetry and photography of the highest quality of which I am capable. I will continue to present the pointed text of the Hebrew Gospel of Matthew; my commentary on the teachings of Rabbi Yeshua; writings on the Synoptic Problem; and anything else that comes into my head. Hopefully, my memoir series, Journal of a Naked Poet, will also continue.

As always, I'd like to thank all of you for your continued interest and enthusiasm. Thank you, merci, gracias, obrigado, wadó, ꮹꮩ.


Below is something I found when I was looking through old photos for the memoir series:

Anybody want a naked wedding? I can do that.


Text and images © 2020 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler.

It's a New Day (+fr, es, pt, eo)

It's a new day, sisters and brothers,
embrace it, hug it, and enjoy it.
There is no more need for shame.

C'est un nouveau jour, sœurs et frères,
l'embrasser, l'étreindre et l'apprécier.
Il n'y a plus besoin de honte.

Es un nuevo día, hermanas y hermanos.
abrázalo, abrázalo y disfrútalo.
Ya no hay necesidad de vergüenza.

É um novo dia, irmãs e irmãos,
abrace, abrace e aproveite.
Não há mais necessidade de vergonha.

Estas nova tago, fratinoj kaj fratoj,
ĉirkaŭprenu ĝin, brakumu ĝin kaj ĝuu ĝin.
Ne plu bezonas honton.

Text and image © 2020 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler.

GTh Logion 37 / P. Oxy. 655 / cf. Mt. 6:28

His disciples said to him, 'When will you appear to us? When will we see you?'
He said, 'When you strip naked and are without shame. . . '

Ses disciples lui dirent: «Quand nous apparaîtras-tu? Quand te verrons-nous?
Il a dit: «Quand vous vous déshabillez et que vous êtes sans honte. . . "

Sus discípulos le dijeron: '¿Cuándo te aparecerás? ¿Cuándo te veremos?
Él dijo: 'Cuando te desnudas y estás sin vergüenza. . . '

Seus discípulos disseram-lhe: 'Quando você vai aparecer para nós? Quando te veremos?
Ele disse: 'Quando você se despe e fica sem vergonha. . . "



Image © 2020 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler.

The Intruder (+fr, es, pt)

The intruder is always within us,
an indeterminate incubus.
Will it go away with morning sun?
But wait! There is more than one!

L'intrus est toujours en nous,
un incubus indéterminé.
Va-t-il disparaître avec le soleil du matin?
Mais attendez! Il y en a plus d'un!

El intruso siempre está dentro de nosotros,
un incubus indeterminado.
¿Se irá con el sol de la mañana?
¡Pero espera! ¡Hay más de uno!

O intruso está sempre dentro de nós,
um incubus indeterminado.
Será que vai desaparecer com o sol da manhã?
Mas espere! Há mais de um!

Text and image © 2020 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler.

The Spirit Is Stronger Than the Body (+fr, es, pt, eo)

The spirit is stronger than the body,
and will surely survive.

L'esprit est plus fort que le corps,
et survivra sûrement.

El espíritu es más fuerte que el cuerpo,
y seguramente sobrevivirá.

O espírito é mais forte que o corpo,
e certamente sobreviverá.

La spirito estas pli forta ol la korpo,
kaj certe pluvivos.

Text and image © 2020 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler.

The Hawk Looks Down (+fr, es, pt, Udugi, japanese)

The hawk looks down
as we look up,
both seeking nourishment.

Le faucon regarde vers le bas
pendant que nous levons les yeux,
tous deux en quête de nourriture.

El halcón mira hacia abajo
mientras miramos hacia arriba,
ambos buscando alimento.

O falcão olha para baixo
enquanto olhamos para cima,
ambos buscando nutrição.

ᏔᏬᏗ ᎭᎦᏔᏎ ᎡᎳᏗ
ᏀᎢᏳᎢ ᎢᏧᎳ ᎭᎦᏔᏎ ᎦᎸᎳᏗ,
ᎢᎬᎳ ᎠᏯᏍᏓᏎ ᎠᏓᏍᏕᎳᏍᏙᏁ.

タカが見下ろす
見上げながら
両方とも栄養を求めています。

Text © 2020 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler.

I Welcome You

I welcome you
to the intimacy
of our home.
It may be a wild ride,
but we have nothing to hide
either below or above:
we are just old people
who are still in love.

Text and image © 2020 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler.

His World Is Multiplanar

His world is multiplanar,
and tied together
by love.

Text and image © 2020 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler.

Exiles

We are all exiles,
and only love
can lead us back
to our country.

Nous sommes tous des exilés,
et seulement l'amour
peut nous ramener
à notre pays.

Todos somos exiliados
y solo amor
nos puede llevar de vuelta
a nuestro pais.

Somos todos exilados,
e somente amor
pode nos levar de volta
para o nosso país.


Text © 2020 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler.

Journal of a Naked Poet XXIII - Hinduism

One of the influences on me was Hinduism. In Hinduism it is often said that there are three paths to liberation: the path of karma, which is action or work; the path of jñana (gyana), which is knowledge; and the path of bhakti, which is devotion. I think the first two are more or less self-explanatory, but the third is often misunderstood.

It is not the ishta devatá, the chosen or desired deity, that saves or liberates; it is the devotion itself. The devotees are already liberated by their devotion.

In the end, it is love that saves us.

Text © 2020 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler.

Journal of a Naked Poet XXII - Not Glatt, but Gluten-free

Now I'm skipping around chronologically, since the past inhabits and illuminates the present.

It's remarkable how a single word can remind you of a whole story. This morning I was thinking about the dietary rules I have to observe, not for religious reasons but for health ones. The word "glatt," which I think means "smooth" in Yiddish, is a kind of super-kashrut, or "kosher on steroids." This reminded me of my old friend John Blank (not the one in Portland, whom I still know, but the one from San Diego and Los Angeles, whom I knew in the 1960s).

John was hanging out with me in San Francisco, after having received a draft notice. He was probably the most ill-suited person for the military that I have ever known. He didn't know what to do, and ended up flying from SF to NYC to consult with the Lubavitcher Rebbe. He hoped to get some kind of letter that would excuse him from military service, but the Rebbe did not comply, and John was on his own.

John went to his appointment with Uncle Sam, and was drafted. But John had a plan, a multifaceted one. One of the first things he did was tell the chaplain that he could only eat kosher food. Not just kosher, but "glatt kosher," "smooth kosher." He never told me the chaplain's response, though I can imagine several possibilities. Anyway, that didn't work.

While John was stationed at Fort Ord, near Monterey, for basic training, he went AWOL and visited me in SF. He had a bottle of vodka (which he pronounced more like "vodkee" or "vodkeh") in his duffel bag, and I assume he had been making use of it. I think this would have been in early 1967, and John wanted to go to a concert at the Fillmore Auditorium. So we got on the number 16 bus and went to the Fillmore.

John's plan, at this point, was to get into so much trouble that they wouldn't want him. He got on the bus and went back to Ft. Ord and turned himself in as AWOL. Apparently they hadn't even missed him, and had little to say about it. He was still batting zero.

Next, John told the chaplain that he had to have time for his prayers. The chaplain told him that he could do it in the bathroom. This infuriated John, since it contravened all the rules of purity.

Having exhausted his avenues of argument with the chaplain, John made an appointment with the base psychologist. By now John had been in the Army for two or three months. He had refused to carry a rifle, but he could play some instrument, so they had put him in the band. Anyway, when he went into the psychologist's office he acted as crazy as he could and told the shrink that he wanted to kill someone. This time, they believed him. He was given a general discharge.

The last time I talked to John, he called me in the middle of the night from Seattle. I couldn't do anything for him, because Dan and Al were crashed on the floor of my small studio apartment and I was looking for what eventually would become a communal hippie-house.

I don't know if John is still on the planet, but if he is, I'd like to find him, and share a bottle of "vodkee" with him.


Text © 2020 by Donald C. Traxler aka Yakov Bloom Traxler.

The Gates of the Heart

As I recently said, "a naked poet has no secrets." For me, at least, the practice of poetry is a stripping off of what is not real, and a baring and communicating of what is. I'm sure that many of my readers have watched in amazement as two competing traditions pulled at me from opposite directions. This is the kind of thing that I resolve in poems and in "aha moments" in the middle of the night.

I have always known that at least a quarter of my ancestry was Irish, and that another quarter had come to this country from Sweden. Both parents of my paternal grandmother, Judith Jacobson, had come to America from Sweden, where the two families had already known each other. But until I was about thirty years old, my father did not tell me that some of them were, or "had been" Jews. In recent years, I have learned a lot more.

This explains many things. It explains the old, pipe-smoking Swedish grandmother (great- or great- great- to me) who had a little cabin to herself on the family farm. The kids liked to peek into her windows, where sometimes they saw her lighting candles and practicing exotic rituals. She was not a witch; she was lighting candles for Shabbat.

It also explains why my father never mentioned a first cousin who had retained his ancestral faith and died fighting the Nazis when his plane was shot down over Germany.

It further explains why every week MyHeritage is sending me notification of new "DNA cousins" in Finland, a country that was never mentioned in family history. There are others from northwest Russia and from the Ukraine, also never mentioned in oral family history.

Finally, it helps me to understand why Judaism has attracted me (has been screaming in my blood, actually) most of my life.

Those ancestors who came to this country from Sweden, having passed through the Ukraine, northwest Russia, and Finland, most of them at least, did a very unwise thing: they cut themselves off from the very roots that were there to nourish them. In those days, many others did the same thing.

So a correction, if not an expiation, is in order. I have been embracing those same roots, in many ways, since 1964. I now feel strongly that this embracing needs to be done in a more "official" way. And so it will.

But there is a fly in the fruit bowl: a pandemic is here, now just forty-five minutes by car from where we live. My wife and I are both "seniors," but Sandy is especially vulnerable to the new virus, due to both age and existing respiratory problems. I cannot unnecessarily put myself in the middle of large groups of people.

So for now my congregation will be Sha'arei Lev--the Gates of the Heart.

Text © 2020 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler.

What Is a Yeshuan?

I recently wrote a poem (based on a dream), in which I identified myself as a Yeshuan, in other words, a follower of the teachings of Rabbi Yeshua (Jesus). Does this mean that I am a Christian? I don't think so, at least as I define it. I am also a Bergsonian, a Jungian, and an admirer of Hillel, but I don't deify any of them.

I see a lot of differences between the Jewish Jesus of the Gospels, especially that of Matthew (and more so when read in its original Hebrew) on the one hand, and the "Christ" of the Epistles. The former is a flesh-and-blood person who was born, who taught, who suffered, and who died; the latter is a symbol and a mental construct.

It was Rabbi Yeshua who said, "To the lands of the Gentiles do not go and into the cities of the Samaritans do not enter. Go to the sheep who have strayed from the house of Israel.." (Mt. 10:5-6)

It was the ambitious Shaul / Paul of Tarsus who said, "I live now, not I, but Christ liveth in me" (Ga 2:20), which sounds to me like the height of chutzpah.

The one wanted to reform his own world; the other wanted to take over the goyish world.

Can I not have the one without the other?

Text © 2020 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler.

Some Thoughts on Monotheism and Divine Names

שְׁמַע יִשׂראאֵ יהוה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יהוה אֶחָד׃

The verse above is Devarim (Deuteronomy) 6:4, The "Shema" that is fundamental to Judaism as we know it. When one says it, one says "Sh'ma yisrael adonai eloheynu adonai echad." The meaning is "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one." It is a reaction to surrounding polytheism, either that of Egypt or that of the neighboring tribes. But one does not pronounce the name YHVH, the Tetragrammaton; instead, one says "adonai," which conventionally means "Lord."

I say "conventionally" because the word must originally have had a different meaning. In fact, I think it is Egyptian, by the look of it. In Egyptian it would mean "my Aton." "Aton" in ancient Egyptian meant the disk of the sun, worshiped by Pharaoh Ahkenaton during Egypt's short monotheistic period. It is easy to imagine that "Atonai/Adonai" was the customary title that one used when addressing this pharaoh, and that among his followers it came to simply mean "my lord." The pharaoh was God's representative on earth.

By the way, the alternate spelling "Aten" came from E. A. Wallis Budge, "Late Keeper of the Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities in the British Museum." The ancient Egyptians did not write vowels, so when the exact character of a vowel was not known, Budge inserted a neutral "e" vowel, to make the language more pronounceable. It turned out to be a pernicious habit that created a lot of misunderstanding. It had a big influence, though, because he translated more Egyptian texts than anyone else.

Anyway, as many scholars have pointed out, Moses, if he existed, probably lived in the century after Akhenaton's death. when the Egyptian monotheists were being persecuted. As many have pointed out, the name "Moses" is Egyptian, and means "is born" or "son." For example, "Tutmoses" means "Thoth is born," or "Son of Thoth." If we take the Biblical stories literally, Moses was raised by a princess of the Egyptian royal family. He would have spoken Egyptian fluently, but could not communicate well in Hebrew, so he had his brother Aaron speak for him.

Moses' monotheism was probably the monotheism of the Aton, the disk of the sun. But Moses never got to enter the Promised Land so his influenced waned. The Aton, a benefic god who was the giver of all life, came to be replaced by YHVH (exact pronunciation long forgotten, and I wouldn't say it even if I knew it, so strong is that stricture). The god represented by the Tetragrammaton was probably a fierce god of the Midianites, who was to be feared.

We find many other Deity-names in the Bible. Most of them, such as El, are Canaanite. It appears that the Hebrews were strongly influenced, at least for a time, by Canaanite religion. Evidence for this can be found, for example, in Psalm 106, which speaks of them having sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons.

The exact meaning and etymology of the "Shaddai" in "El Shaddai" is not known, but it does not look like Hebrew to me.

The thing to remember, it seems to me, is that what we think of as "Judaism" is really Rabbinic Judaism, and it comes from a much later and more evolved period. There are plenty of clues, in the Bible and elsewhere, to less evolved beliefs and practices, but they do not represent the religion that resonates with me.

Text © 2020 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler.