Your line to discernment
is Holy Scripture undistilled.
Weeper, wine spurner,
No need for you the temple you
helped bring into being,
squatting on its rock
outside the tippler’s palace.
Wily, you were wiled,
but burst again upon world history—
the demon who deposed a king.
Now listen all:
Tremble when shown by Ashmedai the road.
Flee when he tucks a wing in heaven.
Source: Tractate Gittin 68a.8-68b.20
Andy Oram
March 26, 2025