War writings
Read through all the content we've collected since the war. You can use the search bar below to find specific content or select from our most popular categories to read their posts.
Simchat Torah Morning 2023
This time last year it’s early in the morning and I am suddenly roused from sleep. Could it be…? Is this a siren? We are usually warned about red alert sirens, indicating that we are being shot at by missiles, but this morning it came unexpectedly. No sign at all. Through my confusion, I dragged […]
I Will Call You After the War
I had that student. I remember his first time in my class vividly. He chose a chair, positioning himself with his back to the window to shield his eyes from the sun. As he settled in, he seemed to claim the space as his own. With piercing, attentive eyes, his demeanour challenged me with a […]
Soldiering On
More empty chairs than not We’ll sit at the table alone But how can we bemoan our fate When our children could still come home
October’s Ashes
Through smoky dawn,a soldier stands,in Israel’s land. Courage demands,he treads on ashes,October’s ashes,the fallen’s remains. With each step, he tastes their pain.October seventh,a day of Terror. Burned bodies,a somber sight.He fights through the barricades and fire. A cigarette’s glowin dim light.Ashes on his tongue,He tastes them.Scorched bodies. He finds Thai workers,hidden away,Fearful of being taken,Or killed in friendly fire. Determined to […]
The Dream
Sharon I once had a dream that disturbed me for years, and then I forgot about it. Until now. The dream concerned my youngest child, my Gadi, who was five at the time. In the dream, I took him to the kindergarten down the block from our home, as I did every morning. We played […]
First Shabbos of the War
O sheltered punditsand tenured humanistswho have beenposting and tweeting how you feel bad for Israel, but all the same… I say to you, my colleagues,as Hamas Einsatzgruppenmurder Israeli women and childrenin their homes and fields: Have you no heart? No mind? No shame?
Say Their Names
AgamDaniellaKarinaLiriNaama five vibrantvital flowersbeginning bloomsurveilling their field suddenly savagelyripped from their soilfrom their landfrom the earth itself AgamDaniellaKarinaLiriNaama if I were Catholicthis ritualistic repetitionwould be my recitationof the rosary but I was born a Jewwith all the prideand responsibilitythat ancient honor brings and my ceaseless repetitionof their nameshearkens back millenniato something deeperprimalvisceral my tribe AgamDaniellaKarinaLiriNaama […]
Sheva BeOctober: A Poem
Without a chancewithout being askedStill they askThey insistDeclaim “this”1 Before the mountain man2before the voices3before three stars4came us5 Returned we6no prodigal7no mere relic8Rather to end it9 EverlastingPresent, ever threateningTo green hills and pleasant land again10Blood yet, but blood washes away11 Charles’s Great withers12Cries for its foe13A spent will14 Openings its choice15The stream flows16Course not ours […]
Bridge of Tears
Last night, I went to the kotel and prayed. I didn’t pray like I normally pray. I imagined I was Shiri Bibas praying for herself and her husband and her children in Hamas captivity. I do not know if she’s allowed to pray out loud where she is. I am sure most of her thoughts […]
Lather, Rinse, Repeat
We commemorateCelebratePontificateOn the ironiesFaced in grief and lovethat proliferateHolding space and breathRemembering who we are and the salvationWe await We’ve been here beforeWe know when it’s time toLather, rinse, repeat Mourning creates longingWhile rumors are swarmingThere’s more we’re absorbingMore death, then hope,Informing every gaspHolding space and breathAs we pray that quietIs forming But we’ve been […]
Of Grief and Hope: A Haiku
Sadness overwhelmsA new day, the tale replayedOnce too many times Laid to rest in peaceAs hearts weep across bruised landPain spreads far and wide Rest well young soldiersThank you for all that you gaveWhat a price to pay One day dawn will breakThis dismal story will endWe will dance once more
The Fears We Face – Iranian Threats on Erev Shabbat*
Threats are heavyAnxiety is thickAnd the sky is a perfect bright bluethat reminds me uncomfortably ofthat Tuesday morningFear permeates the steady, warm breezeAs thick grey plumes of destructionRing out A country braced for war-A magnitude of which we can only guessWith an iron dome that is no matchFor psychological terror That is why, in my […]
War and Bees: The honey and the sting
In Israel’s Galilee, the soothing hum of our Neshikha beehives now mingles with the harsher buzz of air force drones and thudding echoes of aerial and artillery cross-border warfare. In the picturesque landscape of Israel’s Galilee, where the soothing hum of our Neshikha beehives now mingles with the buzz of air force drones and echoes […]
A Chanukah Story
I haven’t told anyone this because, well, first because I know I’ll sound crazy. But second, because I don’t want anyone to spoil it for me. I went to visit my sister and her family in Israel a couple of months after the Hamas massacre. I wanted to spend time with them, support them, make […]
Reverberations of October 7th: Musings of an American Jew on the Fourth of July
the July 4th rat a tat tatfireworks finale soundsno holiday hotdogs hereonly a fusillade of bullets our porch doorcreakingno longer a signof lazy summernow suspicionis all it brings Who will enter? my rational mind knowswe’re in the US of Ait must be friendsbut the October 7th Terrortakes controland fear and foesurge through robbing my mindof […]
10/7
I could be you could be me.Washing my body privately in the showerfeeling safe and protected/violated andripped apart. I could be you could be me, cooingmy baby to sleep in a safe and protective collective settlement/butchered, beheaded bleeding corpses piled upin sacred living spaces. I could be you could be me, ecstaticallydancing for peace, so […]
Eilat, July 2024
“Are you still going?”Asked by a friend as I pack my bagsFor a trip that’s been promised a year and a dayA trip long discussedAnd oh so desperately needed“Are you still going?”In light of recent current events, and ongoing onesBecause to go is crazyIt’s not safe, it’s not the right timeThe weather is offAnd so’s […]
Amalek
Remember what Amalek did to you on your journey out of Egypt.But how could we forget?Weak, starving, insecure, unprotectedParched, dehydrated, thirstyFor water, yes – and so much moreTraveling across the desertBarren wasteland filled with nothingEndless exhaustion towards a half-believed promise.He happened upon you and struck the weak at the rearLife imitates art.“Always watch your rear”A […]
Praise
Praise the fallen worldand its dreamy terrors.Praise the false certaintyof unflickering leadersand their certain masses.No one knows better. My cravings crave solitude.My cravings crave spaceto grow and spread their wings.I hear it mostly at the playground.My daughter has become a jealous god. I have amassed debt and doubts.Some days I feel Jerusalem calling:quiet study, a […]
A Psalm after Glatshtayn
It is too early and too late to dream.My sister-God braids my hair forit has grown since the mirrors wore black. It is too early to die, too late to be born.I have carrots to chop, soup to cook, a child to read to.The soup tastes weak; it is mixed with lost time. Is it […]
A Psalm for My Uncle
Uncle Yosele, may you rest peacefullyoutside Tel Aviv in the makeshift hospitalwhere cousin Bati watches over you.She told me how you hid under a carfor two days without water,how you saw your son Ron massacredholding the hand of his daughter, Sarah. Bati said you were shaking when they found you,your 87-year-old body, always so thin,shaking […]
The Weight of Words
Letters. Black on white. They usually adhere to their two-dimensional habitat. Sedate, well-behaved. But what happens when they leap off the surface and issue blood-curdling screams? That is the case this grey morning. My head reflexively snaps to the side upon seeing the words on my phone, my gaze turning away, scanning the room desperate […]
silentversities
silentversities silently witness silentversities fail to condemn silentversities soulless and witless silentversities solo and in tandem silentversities hostile to Israel silentversities seek compromise silentversities toxic with vitriol silentversities breaking the promise silentversities charging tuition silentversities have no excuse silentversities fail their mission silentversities […]
Campus Confrontation
“What are you doing still awake?”She answered him:“I love.”from the Russian of Leonid Martynov “Are you a Zionist?” they asked,their faces covered in keffiyehs.On their chessboard hate was masked.She stood alone. She had no fear.“No Zionist can come insidethe library. Go back to Poland.”“From enemies I won’t hide,”she told them, stoically. Andshe smiled at their […]