If you would like to contribute a piece to Iron Words, please click here.
“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 inside
the library. Go back to Poland.”
They sing.
At the stupid o’clock
when
even Sun
hasn’t
got up yet
but only opened its eyes,
stretched out and yawned
these irksome creatures already
tweet
chirp
peep
sing
their dumb happy songs
and don’t
let me sleep.
Some people wear their heart on their sleeves
To show it off to all around
Mine lays heavy, tied round my neck
It’s weight, it’s worth I’ve avowed
Hashem, and the Heavenly Court, enter
the Beit Knesset on Rosh Hashanah
to open The Books.2
uNetaneh Tokef3 softly wafts through the hall and
Hashem opens the first page of The Book;
tears unexpectedly fall from His eyes.
the angels of the Heavenly Court are bewildered–
Hashem turns over the page and tears
continue to fall like the waters of
the Simchat Beit Hashoeva4
You don’t care when our soldiers are killed.
You don’t care when our elderly are murdered.
You don’t care when our women are raped.
You don’t care when our men are brutally slaughtered.
You don’t care when our children are tortured.
You don’t care when our babies are executed.
I see faces I do not know
And my heart is breaking
I see names I do not know
And my soul aches
We pray harder and longer,
We feel sadder and more anxious.
We also love more fiercely
And our unity tightens
It could be me
Now
Next week
Next month
Many years from now
It could be my children
Now
Next week
Next month
Many years from now
Before that day we were whole
Rejoicing in life’s small pleasures
Oblivious to the shadows encroaching.
Killers came, prepared with the blackest of souls
Words matter.
The army here is called the Israel Defense Forces.
The “defense” is there for a reason.
While the IDF is out defending our country, we’ll be here defending against – antisemitism – misinformation – extermination.