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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 I could hear was the resounding shouts just this week of “Kill the Jews” and “Hitler was right”.
March 27th, 2024
My son’s not a hero was her first thought
He’s just a kid
His smelly shoes
His messy room
And a constant smirk on his face
October 17, 2023
Families stay together
They learned when they were little
On holidays, on weekend trips
Because alone we’re just too brittle
Families stay together
They all continued saying
I rise above you higher than any of you would yearn to reach
Above the throngs of congregating people
Crying, grieving, trying to make sense
From your view on the ground.
But my view is vast
And open.
417 days I lay hovering in the shadow of God
But now I see rays of light above the clouds
No shadow
Just God.
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 myself out of bed.
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 ‘Well? Show me what you’ve got.’
Whoops! In that very instant, I sensed he would challenge me every second of our 90-minute lesson.
“Why don’t you tell me about yourself?” I suggested.
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
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 our usual counting and color-spotting games as we walked, swinging our joined hands. When we reached the kindergarten, I pressed the entrance buzzer, and then, as happens in dreams, I suddenly found myself elsewhere.
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 are prayers.
We commemorate
Celebrate
Pontificate
On the ironies
Faced in grief and love
that proliferate
Holding space and breath
Remembering who we are and the salvation
We await
We’ve been here before
We know when it’s time to
Lather, rinse, repeat