Counting the DaysCounting the daysIn IsraelFor the safe return of The hostagesIn GazaFor the bombs To stop fallingFor sufficient aid To get throughSo many daysSince October 7How many more?The countingOf the days of the OmerForty-nine daysFrom the second day of PesachFestival ofFreedomTo the eve of ShavuotThe Feast of ‘Weeks’The ‘Day of First Fruits’The first harvest […]
Anyonein southern Israelwho found themselvesin the pathwayof the depraved assailantson October 7a targetto be pursuedtrappedkilledmutilatedcapturedassaultedraped Citizensmigrant workersoverseas visitorsyoung peoplewaking upat a music festivalto a deadly dawnfamiliestheir homesinvadedas they slept in their bedsor sat at their breakfast tablesand then set ablazeas in the pogromsvisited on their grandparents and great grandparentstwelve hundred murdered in a single daytwo […]
Telling the taleof the Exodusaround the seder tableand making it personal:‘In every generation,each personis obligedto regard themselvesas if they had personallygone out of Egypt’ (Haggadah) Each person isobligedto rememberto feelthe blood rush of liberationto savourfreedomon our tonguesour teeth crunchingon the brittle breadbaked in hasteas the slaves took flight And alsoto taste the marorimbibe the bitternessof […]
Bare winter treesbranches etched into the skyfrost crunching underfootthen deluges of wind-driven raindrenching every step.And yetsignsof rebirthsnowdrops poking through the weathered detritus of long-gone autumnand at the full moonTu Bishvatthe 15th day of Sh’vatRosh Ha-Shanah La-IlanotNew Year for The Treesreminding me – usthat in every buried rootthe sap is risingnew life is stirringin a few […]
Sh’mini Atzeretthe ‘Eighth (day of)Closure’concludingthe sacred seasonthe days set apartfor repairing ourselvesour relationshipsour communitiesour worldand thenrejoicingin nature’s bounty.But this yearin IsraelSh’mini AtzeretAcheret‘another’kind of closureon that holy-daywhich was also Shabbatmonstrous desecrationas Hamas terroristshearts-sealed-shuthands wielding gunsknivesstopped heartsin their hundredsyoung peopledancingin the desertinto dawnmowed downbabieschildrenfamiliesas they woketo a new daytorturedmurdered mutilatedtheir homes set aflame.Meanwhilegirls and women rapeddozens of […]
Simchat Torah[1]the joy of Torah joyousrespitefor agile mindsforeverdivinginto the flowof wordsdecipheringand multiplyingtheir meanings the annual rejoicingstirring the heartand the feetto rapture.Eitz Chayyim hila-machazikim bah ‘She is a Tree of Life to those who grasp Her’the Torah claspedin loving embrace its ancient lettersdancingfrom pastto presentfrom endingto beginning whirlinginto new lifewith every step.Elli Tikvah Sarah Post-Biblical festival […]
Sh’mini Atzeretthe eighth day after Sukkot[1]that closesthe sacred seasonof the seventh month.[2]In ancient times the annual cycle ofpilgrimage to Jerusalem also concluded on that day. And sothe returning pilgrimsshut down for the bare months of winter shadowed by concern that the late harvest’sbountymight not lastuntil the spring Aviv the month of beginnings[3] when the full […]
To plunge like a stone into the depths of The Day Yoma[1] weighted with griefs burdened by regrets lost disorientated hopeless. But then to discover in the enveloping darkness our old home waiting to be claimed nourishing waters nurturing us into new life opening our hearts to remembrance healing hope inviting us to take courage […]
Yom Kippur/YomaYom KippurYoma[1] The Day the exceptional day out of our lives out of Life stripped bare of Life’s essentials etched in bone-white lodged in the realm of Eternity suspended between past and future. Yom KippurYoma The Day with a single goal after long hours spent in confession remorseexhausted our misdeeds forgiven but not disappeared […]
Fifty yearssince the Yom Kippur Warbut no Jubileeto be soundedwith T’ki’ah G’dolahthe ‘Great Blast’at the end of the fast. After triumphin 1967 Israel caught unawaresin 1973on Yoma‘The Day’ when everything ceaseswhen even soldierslay down their armsmake confessionand seek forgivenessof the Onein whose imageevery human beinghas been created (even thosewe may consider to beour enemies). And […]