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.
9 Months In
July 8th, 2024 For months on endMy heart bleeding proseLyrics and phrases pushing their wayThrough the cracks in my facadeNow that the wall has crumbledThe dam burstMy heart broken beyond repairThe 9 month markHas brought death to my wordsAnd rebirth to my fears
Once Again
May 5th, 2024 I wanted to talk about the Jews being barred from universities, their homes and businesses marked and boycotted, their identity used against them back in the all too recent 1930s, but 2024 kept flashing in front of my eyes. I wanted to decry the dehumanization of Jews by the Nazis, but all […]
He’s No Hero, Please
March 27th, 2024 My son’s not a hero was her first thoughtHe’s just a kidHis smelly shoesHis messy roomAnd a constant smirk on his face I’m pretty sure that’s not what heroes look like, she saidHe’s just a kidHis hair too messyHis clothes too wrinkledAnd shoes that never stay tied I don’t think that’s what […]
The Family That Loves Together
October 17, 2023 Families stay togetherThey learned when they were littleOn holidays, on weekend tripsBecause alone we’re just too brittle Families stay togetherThey all continued sayingAnd yes, even as the kids got olderIt’s what they kept displaying Families stay togetherEven when the kids move outAnd build lives all of their ownThough they never had a […]
Yona
I rise above you higher than any of you would yearn to reachAbove the throngs of congregating peopleCrying, grieving, trying to make senseFrom your view on the ground. But my view is vastAnd open. 417 days I lay hovering in the shadow of GodBut now I see rays of light above the cloudsNo shadowJust God. […]
The Bibas Family Haiku Project
The Bibas family haiku project will comprise three groups of poems – each group representing a particular character. The haikus will emulate the structure of a haiku in that the first character (Imma/mama) will have five haikus written in 5-7-5, the second character (baby Kfir, the youngest hostage taken at nine months) will have seven […]
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 […]