Another Pesach
arrives
but
no Passover
the memory of
liberation
overtaken by
another god
the fortress state
and its henchmen
a state of
perpetual war
the blood of
the massacred
on October 7
desecrated
the young blood of
the nation’s defenders
sacrificed
on the altar
of the right
of might
the remaining hostages
abandoned
empty spaces
at seder tables
never
to be filled.
Meanwhile
in Gaza
a people
doubly-oppressed
from within
and without
crushed
blood
shed
cries out
from the rubble
no doorposts
no lintels
to offer a sign
no provisions
left
not even
the bread of affliction
much less
the bread of freedom
nowhere
to flee.
Rabbi Elli Tikvah Sarah
Nisan 5785/April 2025