Forty Lines About Forty

For E.

For the rabbis, forty

signifies fruition:

days before the embryo takes shape,

weeks from conception until birth.

The flood which cleansed the earth

rained for forty days and nights

like a mikvah, which must contain

forty measures of water.

Moses spent forty days atop Sinai

communing with the Holy One

to receive the stone tablets

containing the commandments.

(And forty days praying

after the golden calf disaster,

and forty days atop Sinai again

to bring down the Torah.)

The children of Israel wandered

forty years in the wilderness

before they could learn

what they needed to know.

The sages in Pirkei Avot

(Ethics of the Fathers)

teach that a man of forty

attains understanding.

The Talmud teaches

"one does not fully comprehend

the knowledge of one's teacher

before forty years"

and also "one does not become

fit to teach

(the things that matter)

until forty years."

When Rabbi Zeira wanted to learn

the Jerusalem Talmud, he fasted

forty times to forget what he'd learned

of the Babylonian Talmud

(like Nan-in who had to empty his cup

before the Zen master could fill him.)

Forty means new beginnings,

blessings waiting to unfold.