171-180

See small miracles
Be more happy when they come
They come anyway

They are not real, yet
they ruin many endings:
flawed expectations

Sometimes they are great
and sometimes dystopian
but never certain

Credences and trusts
Hopes, responsibilities:
Great expectations

I changed these one day
disappointments went away:
my expectations

I want simple faith
I shuddered when I wrote that
This is not simple

Gray does not feel great
as it grates away colors
and yet if feels real

Just as we each breathe
So too we fight our battles
In and out each day

Colors are arching
refracting and dispersing
droplets of sunlight

A very small stream
it always seems to trickle
with hope, in my heart

161-170

I find life to be
sharp like a double edged sword,
smooth in the center

Of myriad knives
the tongue is the sharpest one
and it is so soft

The truth is so sharp
she needs to get all dressed up
in colorful tales

Sharp clever remarks
Mistakenly get called jokes
and are laughed away

The pen beats the sword
they say, but forget to add-
the pen must be sharp

Roseanne Cash observes
G-d is in roses and thorns
in each moment's world

In early morning

Tiny water drops appear

From the night’s surface

It feels like a hug

heart to heart, with affection

is the best present

What do you expect?
Expecting is everything
and nothing at all

They kill marriages

and even fun vacations:

warped expectations

151-160

Twisted expression
conveying disgust and pain
or wry amusement

----------

Till Daddy gets home?

How about when he gets there?

Applaud for your dad

----------

Once at Billy Joel

my friend's girlfriend got annoyed

when I was clapping

----------

A thunderous sound

made by G-d and by our hands

Lady Gaga's need

----------

How does one hand sound?

A commonly asked question:

Two hands sounds better

----------

Reb Shlomo Carlebach
was the only one ever
to say I looked "sharp"

----------

"You gotta look sharp

gottaa have no illusions"

So says Joe Joe Jackson 

----------

They mean it as smart

to me you're the other sharp

you can cut and pierce

----------

Sudden and abrupt

a sharp turn by an old car:

how I perceive you

----------

Sharpness and softness

one rests under the surface

the other on top

141-150

Keats and Costello
disagree about beauty-
uselss or the truth

--------------------

Trying not to write
like not breathing or thinking-
for me it's useless

--------------------

Internet debates
are among the most useless
of useless debates

--------------------

Extroverts vomit
muting thought out comments of
useful introverts

-------------------

People are like salt
useless in isolation-
good with something else

--------------------

Words can be useless,
even "sorry" and "love you."
Actions are useful.

--------------------

Not only don't I
laugh at your cruel hearted jokes
I can't help grimace

----------

He sits grimacing
yet somewhere inside his veins
there flows a smile

----------

I hope mom was wrong
and my grimace doesn't freeze
like those forehead lines

----------

You see me grimace
and you shout "it's not that bad"
-just keep on jogging

131-140

Each person and thing
has its own purpose and place
nothing is useless

Things are not useless
just because they don't serve me
right here and right now

--------------------

When it comes to you
talking seems impossible
words almost useless

---------------------

The bus driver said
his handle was Rubber Nail
because it's useless

---------------------

When we give flowers
we give something so useless
- except to show love

--------------------


Effort is useless
That can be a shameful thought
or a holy one

-------------------

Guilt can be useless 
when we carry it around
It's meant to change us

------------------

The strong desire
to be considered normal
can be quite useless

--------------------

Always remember
some notice only if you're
not useless to them

--------------------

Sometimes asking for
advice from others can help
Sometimes it's useless

121-130

If buried alive

I'll write my way out of it

Author my tunnel

They say Moses said,

"Better die a thousand deaths

than live jealously."

Sing to G-d in joy

He told the world while fleeing

In pain, David wrote

 

Getting palms to sync

electronic or human

nothing comes easy

They say Nietze said

that just because you can't lie

doesn't mean you love truth

We each have a drug

Something that keeps us going

Let it be love

Snowflakes look the same

Though they say each one's different

It makes me wonder

You miss and then take

Otherwise you may not get

And you just won't learn

Even a carcass

contain's its positive part

notice the white teeth

Like rainy days

pain sometimes won’t go away

wish though we will

111-120

 Gentle, strong, and warm

The ultimate comforter

This is my G-d 

Life is a trade off

Winning and losing at once:

Our day at the market 

Hold on tight to G-d

There is nothing else to hold

And know He holds you 

Somewhere in time

I have the words and place

That are, just right, for you 

What does home mean?

David sat in G-d's home

Wherever he was

 Shining moon and sun

Winds blowing and rain falling

I stare at Facebook

May we all be blessed

to find our lost smiles

journey as we must

Our fathers acted

brought about an energy

that gives us strength

A man and his jokes

like a dog and his shadow

Our jest is our truth

 Riding on Route 4

Takes me back to Englewood

1968

100-110

The word attention
alone, gets my attention
so strong the need

"Catch a wave and you're
sitting on top of the world,"
the beach Boys sing on

If we are not heard
by the ones closest to us
might strangers hear us?

Desire to play,
the need to be curious-
quite universal

The beauty of youth
partly includes ignorance
blindness to oneself

On Thanksgiving day
I thank G-d for family
and for sugared yams

Somewhere in between
nothing, something, and nothing
We live our whole lives

Any second now
this pencil will fall away
just like anything

Watch a winding road

Change its appearance in time

Catch a miracle

We each have a book

deep inside our selves, called life.

Now, I'm writing mine.

91-100

The box that contains
those who are out of boxes:
hardest to escape

This freshly washed glass
on towel, atop table
was once grains of sand

The light will be green
in one way or the other:
depends how you turn

Alone can be sad
or it can be strong and proud,
solid as a rock

Joni got it right
often we just don't get it
till the taxi's gone

We are what we see
Maayan reminded me
Let's look at nice things

That someone gets you
is rarer than one might think
cherish such a thing

If I push you out
then you may never get in-
even when I want

So close to my heart
My humor is serious
My soul's survival

Justification
I'm told I improv it well
Not sure what it is

81-90

The cynicism
that simmers inside of us
is the enemy

Positive feedback:
Is it meaningful for you?
It sure is for me

Never close enough
once the picture was taken
Lovely at the time

Soon we will look back
on this as when we thought we
understood something

The contradictions
that live inside of us all
can overwhelm me

Lion's tail is raised
while fox lowers his head-
attitude is key

Hidden is revealed
The once revealed is hidden
In the world to come

When winters wore white
a chilled and chided child
had imagined friends

Aint to in between
sang Billy Joel of his life
But most life lays there

Meetings, endless words
time runs on and we grow old
Then- meeting adjourned

71-80

Who are we inside?
Should we just enjoy the ride?
or keep on delving?

What we strive to be:
As the Calvinists once said:
Next to G-dliness

History's great ones
take the world and shake it up
Hear truth over wealth

Devil's advocate
Not someone we want to be
Yet he lives in us

It's the hardest word
goes a line of a weak song
sorry, that's the truth

Choose which direction?
It is very hard to know
within just one road

When already, when?
Like an impatient parent
awaiting the birth

When are we hiding
and when are we revealing?
It's not clear at all

Once I was younger
and I could not imagine
this moment right now

It's an icy world
and it's a beautiful place
It's a package deal

61-70

How can we walk by
another human being
just get used to it?

And what of buildings?
Beautiful in their own way
Less so than the sky

Change in location
Only means the place has changed
You are still with you

Babies believe that
they cant walk- then they do
one step at a time

Humor is an art
It's like being a painter
Funny's not constant

What is it you teach?
People say "Math" or "Chumash"
Don't we teach people?

Great literature
tells the story of our lives
warts and everything

We own our questions
We have each others answers
So we need to share

Beauty is striking
So true yet so meaningless
In and of itself

Once upon a time
there was once upon a time
Cherish one- don't wince.

51-60

You open your hand
poteach et Yadecha
and give us free choice

Built and destroyed
Future redemption built in
Sigh. How long it's been.

When I was a kid
with my father beside me
I prayed before sleep

I remind myself
lying here as a grown up
of all those I love

Ein od milvado:
recall and be protected
There is only G-d

Lech lechah,  G-d said
The command: go to yourself
That is so like G-d

In the seam between
life and a childlike dream
We live in between

Waiting, the hard part
because we're always waiting
for life, death, something

New flowers do grow
of seeds planted long ago
from old blinking tears

Our lives are circles
some within and some next to
the core of our lives

41-50

Covered in darkness
the world becomes enlightened
by the word of G-d

There is nothing else
There's nothing except G-d
Out and in- Echad

On our hearts, our souls
G-d says to put His words there,
not our intellect

G-d of our fathers
but first of all he is ours
Elokeinu Ve

Good and merciful
merciful and always kind
in You we find hope

Everyone but G-d
resists the great redemption
Pharoh, Moses, Jews

At about age twelve
I learn of Pirkei Avot
A new world opens

Irving Bunin taught
that ethics are Torah too
Ethics from Sinai

An image of G-d
Behind our hearts, minds, and souls
This is who we are

What about kiruv?
Bringing ourselves close to G-d
This is kiruv too

31-40

Kotel as a home
a home in so many ways
peaceful broken home

Sometimes sleep takes faith
a mini facing of death
admitting limits

Somewhere near the dreams
life is better than it seems
and G-d reigns as king

Like Achashveirosh
who had everything but sleep
I sit here and sigh

My sense of G-d is
very different than yours
at least it should be

Desert miracles
are meant to be remembered
in our life today

What opens the gates?
Planned prayers or surprise moments?
Jiggling or storming

Repentance for love
Judgment will stand on her head
Awe turned upside down

Uncircumcised hearts
what stands between us and us
in the end is us

One G-d, One G-d, One
And many, many of me;
We believe in him

21-30

See them, then they're gone
magical films and rain days
too soon gone, like us

It's that time again
Shut the lights, check the pockets
Shabbat Shalom world

Shabbats, like snowflakes
Each unique one, melts is gone
Impressions live on

One day in hunger
I won't turn to food or drink
I will turn to G-d

For seven weeks we
get ready for the wedding
Then we marry G-d

I will praise you G-d
for your having moved me up
up against your wall

I fast, shed flesh
sacrifice to You
reiach nichoach

Jerusalem streets
wind through my insides like veins
time does not matter

Living here is hard
says everyone who lives here
then they say come

In Israel too
it takes over at some point
we lie down and sleep

11-20

You may call us fools
but someone should sit and wrote
of the trees of G-d

Give me the chance
to use tomorrow better
than I used today

Praying should be- what?
Meditative? Passionate?
The answer is yes

When you love someone
You want things to be alright
That's why you make up

You have to be the one
only then can you be two
fraction said to me

Let's speak of Romance
Like the Romantics once did
In the broadest sense

Define a great man
You know him when you see him
Truth is recognized

A man is nothing
If that man is not a mentch
otherwise, why life?

Stay out of that box
Live your life, don't be afraid
Walk your narrow bridge

Many years ago
there was a yesterday and
a day before that

1-10

I am pleased to say
that those who have passed my way
grew into haiku

Green leaves touch their toes
as the wind blows these trees' clothes
and they brush their hair

I wonder what birds
think of our music-less
plain and awkward speech

"Look, a pretty bird."
The young boy sees and chases
Mother keeps walking

Talk and talk and talk
It would serve us well to pause
Breathe, listen, and be

Before going back
I photograph the moment
safely in my soul

I can't stay here now
but can visit any time
If i remember

There is only G-d
I think, breathing in and out
There is only G-d

The first poet? G-d
The first poem? Creation
And then man followed

Writing poetry
can make you late or on time
It's all point of view

Introduction To This Blog

I have been thinking lately about haiku, my haiku in particular, even more than usual.  I post a lot of haiku on my main blog. I've put out one put and have more in me.  I, at this moment have the idea of making this new blog a place to work on my next book.  I may include other posts, but mainly I foresee it as a place to work on the book.  I'll share a lot of the poems that I foresee for the next release. I look forward to your input.

Here is a positive review that appeared on a Jewish education website called Lookjed:

In the Field: A Collection of Haiku

By Neil Fleischmann
Lulu.com 2011

Reviewed by Dan Rosen

Two of the most confounding topics in the Yeshiva High School classroom are spirituality and poetry. Both ask the individual to give over his reason and suspend the rational aspect of the self. Formal poetry, like religious law compounds this by expecting the irrational to conform to strictures which might seem to stifle the very exploration which the underlying mode of expression should be encouraging. The combination of the two disciplines might be, then, doubly daunting.

Rabbi Neil Fleischmann's recent collection of haiku, In the Field turns this expectation on its head and makes the introspection and self reflection of both the poem and the mystical sense accessible and even desirable. This work, with the traditional Japanese form organized into groupings about the self, the other and the divine, uses plain language to engage the reader in the deeper questions of place and meaning. In the classroom, the poems, in their seeming simplicity, crystallize the messages of yahadus without imposing codes of law, as they present 17 syllables without demanding that the reader stretch and twist to justify form. Rabbi Fleischmann has been teaching Jewish studies at the Frisch School for the past fifteen years. He presently teaches Talmud,Chumash and English and is Director of Torah Guidance so he understands the challenges teachers and students run into, daily, in these areas.

When confronted with the challenge of getting students to read and appreciate poetry without feeling that they are stumbling over forced lines, or getting students to think about the divine without feeling like they are being coerced into belief, it is heartening to know that a unique text like Rabbi Fleischmann's finds a way to bring these two challenges together and makes the task all the easier for it. The teacher in the classroom trying to integrate the religious and the secular, the Rebbe, trying to get students to look at time worn edicts in a new way or the English teacher, looking for contemporary and clear examples of traditional forms would do well to look into In the Field as a valuable resource.

Available at http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/in-the-field-a-collection-of-haiku/14964176?