To you

in your walled city of childhood,

the years have inched by slowly, tortoise—like
crawling,

yet to your family and family of friends

the time has hurried, without halting,

without leaving enough seasons in which

to know you, to teach you, to love you.

You have been noted studying the Torah,

probing the words of ancient prophets
reading,

To many

you have come too suddenly to the new
region of manhood.

To your parents,

in whose immense realm of love

you have been clasped and claimed,

you are still the tender-tough boy,

yet in your face, they see already the promise
of the man you are becoming.

To them

you are too eager to step into the new land,

too ready to share the responsibility

with the citizens of your new country.

Some of your beloveds are longing to hold you back in the safe arms
of childhood,

where errant behavior could meet with soft
admonishment,

where most injuries could be made better by
a mother’s kiss,

but even now you are leaning away toward
the horizon

with one foot raised to step forward.

None can stop you, none can stay you.

Please know,

prayers lay in the road where you will plant
your feet.

Please know
that aspirations of your family are high at
your back, and surround you entirely.

Please know

that great hopes of your devoted shower
you with

ardent wishes for your being and for your
future.

Your beloveds

know that you are entering a nation

where you must learn the difference

between seeking after justice

and lusting for revenge.

They know also

that you will meet those who would be kind

if only they had the courage, and

those who would do evil

if only they had the opportunity.

You will be bathed in the morning dew of
truth

and you will drink down the brackish water of
false witness.

Be wary, my nephew, but fear only God,

for you have a limitless resource of powerful
love

to evoke and call forth

and I,

prompt with all your primed and loving
family,

await your summons.