The Torah in poetic verse

PREDICTION

Upon the sacred solemnity of Simchat Torah, the Children of Israel rejoice and dance, bearing the scrolls of the Divine LAW;

On this appointed day, the great wheel of their study of the Scripture fulfilleth its cycle, and beginneth anew.

The TORAH abideth as the Book of Books — an incorruptible and priceless creation of the Almighty, wherein no human dispute shall endure!

The TORAH was bestowed by the Most High unto Israel, as a testament to their unyielding devotion unto Him, and His eternal love.

No word, no time, no matter, no space,

Alone abided the Most High, and His world was willed to arise.

Something out of Nothing? Only His Utterances and transcendent Light were shown to thee,

Beyond the reach of mortal mind — one must but accept it and live.

The TORAH abides as the very essence of Divine revelation,

Reflecting the will and wisdom of God throughout all worlds and ages.

It stands as the living spring of all cosmic creation,

The sacred cornerstone of truth — the source of eternal light.

With the acceptance of the TORAH,

Israel shouldered a heavy burden of responsibility,

For the world is a Temple, in constant need of cleansing and Divine Presence.

Their spiritual decline brings darkness to the nations at the gate,

While the rise of Israel’s sons unceasingly elevates all of humankind.

Every observant Jew is daily bound by sacred decree,

To transcend the narrow borders of desire, habit, and passion.

Only by fulfilling the blessings of the Almighty and the TORAH’s commands,

Can the soul ascend to achieve its true and ultimate purpose.

The sacred cornerstone of the TORAH demands compassion and ultimate respect,

Founded upon the law: "What is hateful to thee, do not do unto another.

"To transform this world into the dwelling place of God is our highest pursuit,

For only by seeking the wronged one's forgiveness can the guilty be pardoned by the Almighty Himself.

A man’s true individuality depends on the depth of his connection with the Creator,

The paths through which Divinity is transmitted to humankind are infinite!

The closer a person draws to God, the more individuality is within him,

The TORAH for Jews is synonymous with life, in it and with it — they are eternal!

Strict adherence to the canons of the TORAH can preserve and save,

Both from one's own spiritual unviability and from any adversity.

Upon the observer and the neighbor, favor from the Most High may descend,

Deliver from ill-wishers, hopelessness, diseases, poverty, and hardships.

Over the elapsed time, there have been four revolutions in Judaism:

Compensated study of the TORAH, the transformation from the Oral into the Written. Accessibility for women, as a recognition of justice in feminism,

But the Main One — the TORAH for non-Jews and Its worldwide dissemination!

Dear reader, before you is the third revised and expanded edition of "The Torah. The Pentateuch of Moses in the Poetic Paraphrase of Sergiusz Manzhievsky." The first edition was published in May 2017 and proved to be the world's very first poetic paraphrase of the Torah into the Russian language. Interest in the Torah — "the words of God in the mouth of Moses" — remains unchanged, as it is precisely in the Torah that many find answers to the vital questions of the universe and the meaning of human life. I will be glad if my book lifts the veil of sacred knowledge hidden from you until now and becomes an impetus for studying the original text of the Torah. With best wishes, Sergiusz Manzhievsky.

THE GENESISBOOK I: GENESIS (GENESIS)

Weekly Chapter: BERESHIT (IN THE BEGINNING) No. 1

High Modern Academic English RedactionCo-authored by Sergiusz Manzhievsky & James Witkoff

Over the course of six days, the incomprehensible creation of the world by God continued,

On the first day — light and darkness, on the second — the firmament, the running of the waters' vaults,

On the third day — the earth and flora, on the fourth — the location of the stars,

On the fifth — birds and fishes, and only on the sixth day was man created.

Having created man from the dust of the ground, God breathed into him a "living soul,"

Seeing that it was not good for man to be alone,

He separated one part of him, Formed a woman — a half of the man, yet completely different, "Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth," — the Lord blessed the people.

God saw that what was created was very good, and on the seventh day He rested from work,

The Most High blessed the seventh day and, as a day of rest, sanctified it.

For the people created in His own image and likeness, God did not skimp on bounties,

In Eden, He planted many and various trees, yielding fruits fit for food.

Adam and Chavah are placed by the Most High in the Garden of Eden and indulge in enjoyment,

They are allowed everything, only from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil the fruits must not be eaten.

Under the influence of the Serpent, the most cunning of the beasts, Chavah succumbed to temptation,

And inclined Adam to eat the fruit from the forbidden tree, so that they might know good and evil.

For the committed sin, God deprives Adam and Chavah of immortality and expels them from Eden,

Chavah gives birth to the first two sons, and Cain kills Abel, his younger brother.

The third son of Chavah — Shet will become the forefather of Noach, while Cain dooms himself to wanderings,

And God regretted that He had made man and grieved, seeing how great his evil was.

BOOK I: GENESIS (BERESHIT)

Weekly Chapter: NOACH (NOAH) No. 2

High Modern Academic English RedactionCo-authored by Sergiusz Manzhievsky & James Witkoff

Noach is a descendant of the son of Chavah and Adam from the tenth generation,

Only he alone among people remained righteous on the entire planet.

God commands Noach to build an ark, a flood is coming for human depravity and mockery,

Noach saves his family and a pair of every creature, having berthed at the Ararat peaks.

In gratitude for the salvation, Noach brings a sacrifice to the Most High,

The Lord swears not to destroy humanity anymore for sins.

The story of the global flood belongs to a long-past period,

This true story adds inseparable features to the portrait of humanity.

The rainbow was chosen as the symbol of the Covenant between God and people,

As a sign of Divine mercy, after the Global Flood.

For before the Most High, people always appear only as His children,

The rainbow is a reminder of the duty before the Creator — the source of all that exists.

Noach receives commandments from Above, among which is the ban on murder and others,

For ten generations thereafter, there was a single people on Earth with one language.

Having rebelled, people erected the Tower of Babel. God does not forgive such deeds,

He confused the languages, and each of the seventy nations since then lives in its own little world.

Everything is accounted for, ten generations from Noach to Avram are enumerated by name by God,

By Divine command, Avram's family moves from Ur-Kasdim to the land of Knaan,

The history of the Jews, God's chosen people, is only beginning,

And this is the voice of God to the Jews and the world, and not a fiction and a deceit.

THE GENESISBOOK I: GENESIS (BERESHIT)

Weekly Chapter: LECH LECHA (GO FORTH) No. 3

High Modern Academic English RedactionCo-authored by Sergiusz Manzhievsky & James Witkoff

Avram with his wife Sarai and with his nephew Lot follow to Knaan through Charan,

Avram erects an altar to the Creator and spreads the teaching about the One God.

Hunger forces Avram and Sarai to go to Egypt and resort to deceit,

To call themselves brother and sister and to receive gifts from Pharaoh.

Upon returning to Knaan, Lot separates from Avram and settles in the city of Sodom,

There, Avram's nephew finds himself captured by the Mesopotamian king Kedarlaomer,

Avram with his allies rescues his nephew, having inflicted a defeat upon the enemies,

And receives, following this, a blessing from Malki-Tzedek, the king of Shalem.

The Most High concludes a Covenant with Avram and foretells the flourish of his posterity,

Foreseeing, at the same time, the exile, suffering, and hardships of the Jewish people in captivity,

The Holy Land, as an eternal inheritance to the people of Israel, the Lord promises,

For Avram beheld the One God through the veil of idolatry.

Barren Sarai persuaded her husband Avram to marry the maid Hagar,

She gave birth to Ishmael, who later became the progenitor of a numerous people.

God decides that the names of Avram to Avraham and Sarai to Sarah must change,

And commands Avram to perform circumcision, which God called the "sign of the Covenant" between them.

Avraham at 99 years old performs circumcision, and God manifests Himself to him in human guise,

For Avraham, the news that Sarah would give birth to a son in a year was the dearest.

Avraham prays to God for the forgiveness of the city of Sodom, which is plunging deeper into depravity.

The Lord destroys Sodom, but angels save Lot and his daughters.

Lot's daughters, having made their father drink, lay with him and gave birth from him,

Their sons subsequently became the progenitors of the Moabite and Ammonite peoples.

God, as He promised, gifts Avraham and Sarah a son, for which they were devoted to Him,

They name the son Yitzchak and perform circumcision on the 8th day, for the covenant is already given.

God tests Avraham, commanding him to offer his only son as a sacrifice,

But stops Avraham at the very moment when the father had already raised the knife over his son.

A lamb that turned up instead of Yitzchak was managed to be offered upon the altar,

With the Most High there are no coincidences; without understanding, you will not grasp it right away.

Here we speak of two great Righteous men, father and son — Avraham and Yitzchak,

Who walked themselves and led the Jewish people to the Most High by different paths.

Avraham was the herald of God and received "signs" from the Most High more than once,

Yitzchak — converted the pagans into the true faith, both are one in Him!!!

And at one hundred and twenty-seven years old, Sarah, as if at twenty, was beautiful,

And sinless, as if she had turned only seven years old.

But her hour struck, Sarah passed away, and it became sorrowful for Avraham,

Avraham bought a piece of land for 400 silver pieces and buried Sarah, having fulfilled the vow.

Life is given to people to perform a certain amount of goodness,

By actions is the very life of a person illuminated from the day of birth,

The time of fulfilling the commandments is the quintessence of the essence of being!

The influence of Sarah's holiness upon people will be felt through many generations.

God tasked Avraham to marry his son Yitzchak, as it should be,

Avraham sent an assistant to look for a bride for his son in Charan, to his brother,

The servant found a bride for Yitzchak successfully, so it happens when God nurtures,

And in comfort to Yitzchak for his mother's death, Rivkah became a beloved wife to him.

Here, speech is conducted about the marriage between Yitzchak and Rivkah,

And a crucial and instructive lesson is given to all Jews, and not only to them.

It is of very great significance upon whom the choice of a life partner falls,

The result of the consequence of a mistake here is extraordinarily high.

Avraham married a maid, and she bore him sons,

Seeing none worthy among them, Avraham allotts them a share and sends them away from home.

These sons become the progenitors of peoples of various branches,

Yitzchak, however, Avraham declares as his sole heir.

God blessed Yitzchak and His promises given to Avraham before,

For Yitzchak and his descendants He preserved and extended.

Avraham died at one hundred and seventy-five years old, and after the farewell rite,

In the cave of Machpelah in Hebron, next to his wife Sarah, he rested in peace.

THE GENESISBOOK I: GENESIS (BERESHIT)

Weekly Chapter: TOLDOT (GENERATIONS) No. 6

High Modern Academic English RedactionCo-authored by Sergiusz Manzhievsky & James Witkoff

Yitzchak married Rivkah, and only after twenty years did God give them sons,

Rivkah had a vision that she had twins — the progenitors of two nations in enmity.

The eldest son Esav was the favorite of Yitzchak, the youngest Yaakov was dearer to the mother,

But a choice had to be made, the people of Israel needed a single leader.

Esav grew up an "artful hunter" and a skillful tiller of the soil,

Yaakov was a "man of integrity," dedicating all his time to study in the tents.

By the law that prevailed then, Esav was the holder of the birthright status,

But the Most High deemed it necessary to make Yaakov the primary heir.

Having grown famished, Esav sold his birthright to Yaakov for a pot of lentil stew,

Rivkah lulled her husband's vigilance, and Yitzchak blessed Yaakov for dominion.

Esav, having found out, was aggrieved and did not recognize his younger brother's supremacy over him,

Yaakov, however, avoiding his brother's revenge, left home and departed for Charan, to Rivkah's brother.

All that Yitzchak could do for the weeping Esav was a blessing,

That the eldest son would live by his sword, and every time,

When Yaakov stumbled, he would lose the father's favor before Esav,

The anger of Esav toward the younger brother Yaakov because of the loss of the birthright never faded.

THE GENESISBOOK I: GENESIS (BERESHIT)

Weekly Chapter: VAYETZEI (AND HE DEPARTED) No. 7

High Modern Academic English RedactionCo-authored by Sergiusz Manzhievsky & James Witkoff

On the way to Charan, Yaakov stopped at a certain place for the night,

God appeared to him and promised to his descendants the land on which he lay.

Yaakov set up a stone as an altar and a monument, and vowed,

To erect on this place God's House — a Temple, an earthly pedestal for the Most High.

Rivkah's brother — Lavan gave his daughters to Yaakov: Leah and Rachel, a "reward" from the uncle.

Leah gave birth to Reuven, Shimon, Levi, Yehudah, Yissachar, Zevulun. Rachel gives birth to Yosef,

The handmaids Bilhah and Zilpah lawfully give birth from Yaakov to: Dan, Naftali, Asher, and Gad.

Yaakov with his family secretly departs for the Holy Land — to fulfill God's purpose.

Lavan with a detachment sets out in pursuit of Yaakov and they overtake his family,

God appears to Lavan in a dream and warns against doing any harm to Yaakov.

Lavan and Yaakov meet on the hill of Gal-Ed and conclude a peaceful agreement,