Poetry

Yom Kippur 5785

Yom Kippur 5785

Yoma
‘The Day’
Out of the
Daylight of
Every day
A cave of a day
Glowing
In the white-blank
Glare
Of Eternity
Drawing us in
To its mysteries
Searching
Us out in its
Fierce gaze
A spotlight
Into our souls.

And yet
Even in the harsh
Light of scrutiny
Yoma
The Day
Shadowed
By the freight of
The past
The Day
Out of time
Burdened
By times
Furrowed in fear
And trembling
Trapped
In an attic
In a cellar
In a ghetto
Crammed with deportees
In a camp
Cloaked
With the soot
And stench
Of smoking chimneys
In bomb-shelters
When sirens roared
Enemy attack
In the midst of
The sacred rites.

And now
This past year
That began
In depravity
Massacre
Violation
On October 7
The call to
‘Choose Life!’
Hollowed out
By the
Howl of
Death
Destruction.

And
In the rock of The Day
That has survived
With all its burdens
Preserved by our
Fidelity
To its hallowed
Purpose
Cracks
Fissures
That can only
Be sealed
By our commitment
To choose
Life
Once again.

Sukkot 5785

Festival of ‘Tabernacles’
And ‘Ingathering’
Season of
Temporary
Shelters
Set up in fields
At harvest time
This year
Reaping
The harvest of
Twelve months of
Destruction.

Burnt-out
Homes in
Shattered
Kibbutzim
Village-islands of
Collective
Life
Labour
Democracy
Their
Surviving
Battered
Inhabitants
Scattered
To live
Temporarily
Elsewhere.

And
In another
Elsewhere
Flimsy tents
Temporary
Shelters
In the rubble
Ruined
Homes
Schools
Hospitals
Open to the elements
Their battered inhabitants
Wanderers
In the wilderness of
Concrete and dust
Carrying their lives
On their backs
As they bear the pain of
Endless
Displacement.

And all this
Devastation
Defying
The ever-present
Gaze of
The Eternal
Summoned
By our hands
Grasping
Palm-branch
Willow
Myrtle
Fragrant etrog
And waving
Nature’s bounty
In all directions
East
South
West
North
Heavenwards
And towards the
Gasping
Blasted
Earth.

Rosh Ha-Shanah 5785

Rosh Ha-Shanah 5785

The calendar
Proclaims
‘_Rosh Ha-Shanah_’
But how can that be?
The old year
Has not ended
Hijacked by
Horror
The new year
Suspended
On the far side of
The abyss.

Wordless
My mind
Searches for
Sounds
The voices of
The _shofar_
The sharp blast of
_T’ki’ah_
The bellowing
Boom-boom-boom of
_Sh’varim_
The rapid-nine-fire of
_T’ru’ah._

But
As my heartbeat quickens
And I try to
Listen to each
Particular inflection
All I can
Hear is a
Deafening
Tumult
The thunderous
Clamour of
War.


When will it cease?
The relentless
Tormenting
Question
We all share.

Hope
Almost abandoned
Let us take
Refuge in
The relentless
Turn of the year
With its
Promise of
Renewal.

Rabbi Elli Tikvah Sarah

 

COUNTING THE DAYS IN ISRAEL & GAZA

Counting the Days

Counting the Days

Counting the days
In Israel
For the safe return of
The hostages
In Gaza
For the bombs
To stop falling
For sufficient aid
To get through
So many days
Since October 7
How many more?

The counting
Of the days of the Omer
Forty-nine days
From the second day of Pesach
Festival of
Freedom
To the eve of Shavuot
The Feast of  
‘Weeks’
The ‘Day of First Fruits’
The first harvest
After the long months of
Winter
Seven anxious weeks
In ancient times
Lest the harvest
Failed

And then
Centuries later
After the Roman overlords
Defeated rebellion
Destroyed Jerusalem
And the Temple
The land
Laid waste
Those seven weeks
Consumed with
Anxiety
For the future
And the anguish of
Continuing occupation
Emperor Hadrian
Crushing the rabbis’ revolt
Lashing persecutions
Subjugation
Exile

And now
After
The depraved
Killings
Violations
Abductions
Of October 7
The relentless
Bombardment
Of Gaza
Its people
Displaced
Trapped
Starved
Lives destroyed
That strip of land
Laid waste
As if it is possible
To defeat
Murderous extremism
With extreme
Indiscriminate
Violence

The commencement of
The Omer counting
Marked
One hundred and ninety-nine days
Of destruction
How much longer?

We continue
To count
The days
Will we still be counting
When the seven weeks are
Complete?
When will the horror end?
Rabbi Elli Tikvah Sarah

Passover in the wake of October 7 and its aftermath PESACH/PASSOVER 2024/5784

Anyone
in southern Israel
who found themselves
in the pathway
of the depraved
assailants
on October 7
a target
to be pursued
trapped
killed
mutilated
captured
assaulted
raped

Citizens
migrant workers
overseas visitors
young people
waking up
at a music festival
to a deadly dawn
families
their homes
invaded
as they slept in their beds
or sat at their breakfast tables
and then set ablaze
as in the pogroms
visited on their grandparents
and great grandparents
twelve hundred murdered
in a single day
two hundred and fifty stolen away
a nation traumatised

And then
another nation
caught
in the retaliatory backlash
day after relentless day
bombs raining down
on Gaza
destroying
lives
homes
neighbourhoods
hospitals
schools
utilities
hundreds of thousands
displaced
trapped
in a war zone
with all escape-routes
barred
denied
sufficient medical aid
food
water
punished
for the sins of leaders
who do nothing
to protect them

Sh’mini Atzeret Chanukkah
Christmas Tu Bishvat Purim
Ramadan Eid aI-Iftar Easter Pesach
Friday after Friday
Shabbat after Shabbat
Sunday after Sunday
sacred days
desecrated

What questions will we ask
this Passover
around our seder tables?
how will we respond?
feeling overwhelmed
muted
let us leave
an empty space
on the seder plate
for our pain
our anguish
and fill it
only
with our tears

Rabbi Elli Tikvah Sarah

Knowing the ‘inner-being’ of the stranger PESACH/PASSOVER 2024/5784

Telling the tale
of the Exodus
around the seder table
and making it personal:
‘In every generation,
each person
is obliged
to regard themselves
as if they had
personally
gone out of Egypt’ (Haggadah)

Each person is
obliged
to remember
to feel
the blood rush of
liberation
to savour
freedom
on our tongues
our teeth crunching
on the brittle bread
baked in haste
as the slaves took flight

And also
to taste the maror
imbibe the bitterness
of generations of
back-breaking
servitude
that made our ancestors’ bones
ache with anguish
that crushed their
shrunken spirits

And further
another obligation
after we rejoice
with psalms and song
and complete the seder rites
a take-away
challenge:
‘A stranger you shall
not oppress
for you know
the nefesh
‘inner-being’
of the stranger
since you were strangers
in the land of Egypt’
(Exodus 23:9)

Rabbi Elli Tikvah Sarah

Tu Bishvat

Bare winter trees
branches etched
into the sky
frost crunching
underfoot
then deluges
of wind-driven rain
drenching every step.

And yet
signs
of rebirth
snowdrops
poking through
the weathered detritus
of long-gone autumn
and at the full moon
Tu Bishvat
the 15th day of Sh’vat
Rosh Ha-Shanah La-Ilanot
New Year for The Trees
reminding me – us
that in every buried root
the sap is rising
new life is stirring
in a few short weeks
Winter
will give way
to Spring.

Elli Tikvah Sarah

Sh’mini Atzeret Acheret Shabbat, 7th October 2023 / 22nd Tishri 5784

Sh’mini Atzeret
the ‘Eighth (day of)
Closure’
concluding
the sacred season
the days set apart
for repairing ourselves
our relationships
our communities
our world
and then
rejoicing
in nature’s bounty.

But this year
in Israel
Sh’mini Atzeret
Acheret
‘another’
kind of closure
on that holy-day
which was also
Shabbat
monstrous
desecration
as Hamas terrorists
hearts-sealed-shut
hands
wielding guns
knives
stopped hearts
in their hundreds
young people
dancing
in the desert
into dawn
mowed down
babies
children
families
as they woke
to a new day
tortured
murdered
mutilated
their homes set aflame.

Meanwhile
girls and women
raped
dozens of lives
wrenched away
into captivity.

And now
Shabbat peace
shattered
into bloody fragments
the cycle of violence
continues
with no end
in sight
action and
reaction
over and over
never over?

Hope
in the possibility of
another way
Justice
Peace
a future
for Israelis
for Palestinians
overwhelmed.

Our challenge
as Jews
Muslims
Christians
Israelis
Palestinians
Humans
to replenish
our resources
of courage
fortitude
compassion
so that
Hope
is never extinguished.
Elli Tikvah Sarah

Simchat Torah

Simchat Torah[1]
the joy of Torah
joyous
respite
for agile minds
forever
diving
into the flow
of words
deciphering
and multiplying
their meanings
the annual rejoicing
stirring the heart
and the feet
to rapture.

Eitz Chayyim hi
la-machazikim bah
‘She is a Tree of Life
to those who grasp Her’
the Torah
clasped
in loving embrace
its ancient letters
dancing
from past
to present
from ending
to beginning
whirling
into new life
with every step.

Elli Tikvah Sarah

  1. Post-Biblical festival that celebrates the completion of the annual cycle of weekly Torah readings from Genesis to Deuteronomy, and inaugurates the resumption of the cycle. ↑

Sh’mini Atzeret

Sh’mini Atzeret
the eighth day
after Sukkot[1]
that closes
the sacred season
of the seventh month.[2]

In ancient times
the annual cycle of
pilgrimage
to Jerusalem
also concluded
on that day.

And so
the returning pilgrims
shut down
for the bare months
of winter
shadowed
by concern
that the late harvest’s
bounty
might not last
until the spring
Aviv
the month of beginnings[3]
when the full moon
would coax them
out of their homesteads
summon them
to lift their spirits
and ascend
to Jerusalem
bearing the blessings
of new life
young lambs
in remembrance
of their ancestors’
redemption from slavery.[4]
And still
today
after centuries
of change and upheaval
flight and fruitfulness
their descendants
across the world
as in the land
called
to recall
the rhythms
of long-gone days
in the search
for meaning
and renewal.

Elli Tikvah Sarah

  1. ‘Booths’ (Leviticus 23.34-43). Also known as Chag ha-Asif, ‘the Feast of Ingathering’ (Exodus 23.16), the festival that celebrates the last harvest of the agricultural year. ↑

  2. Literally, the ‘Eighth day of Closure’ (Leviticus 23.36; Numbers 29.35). ↑

  3. Exodus 12.2; 13.4. Later given the Babylonian name, Nisan, the first month of the Jewish year. ↑

  4. Exodus 12.1-11. ↑

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