ratzo v'shov - run and return

ratzo refers to the soul's the passionate desire to transcend its material existence, to “run forward” and cleave to g-d. shov refers to the soul’s sober determination to “return” and fulfill its mission in the body, the resolve to live within the context of material reality.

the droplet yearns
for the source.
the spark craves
the great fire.
i can bear no longer
the darkness of the world

let us plunge
into the sea of nothingness
let the grains of our existence
melt within
his infinite being

he who first
carved my spark
from his blaze
desires not
the extinction of my candle
within his flame

rather he seeks
the searing tremor of my soul
longing
from afar, from the dark
towards his light.

- zvi yair -