and woman is a bird who arrives at the end carrying us to a new beginning (we thought we were torn, like paper, but really, we were making room for our wings).
Writing
“If we dig we find that the earth is alive (and us, too)” – J.L. & D.S.
on a crumpled up paper, dug up from the ground you can still make out faint lines that spell a single word, “Av” and our recurring death demands we the great grandparent and great, great aunt and great, great, great uncle-less we, who have replaced our tears with lumps of flesh and dirt who have … Continue reading “If we dig we find that the earth is alive (and us, too)” – J.L. & D.S.
Finding Creation in Destruction: A Meditation for the Month of Av
Beyond the plot points of collective memory and a seemingly dark, perpetual mourning, Lie wide open spaces beckoning us to enter. Spaces beyond constrictions, Jeremiads. Jerusalem’s crumbling walls. What exists there is unknown and yet, what is known is there are places to be born. Un-made places in and beyond each of us. Waiting to … Continue reading Finding Creation in Destruction: A Meditation for the Month of Av
Revealing Torah, Revealing Me: A Prayer for Shavuot
Before there was Torah There was thunder. Lightning. The sound of a horn beating. A mountain and smoke billowing. People trembling. The Word arose from sight and sound. To receive Torah was a moment. But what of the moment prior? In which our senses and primal feelings Called out to G-d above. Wanting to stay at … Continue reading Revealing Torah, Revealing Me: A Prayer for Shavuot
Omer, Day 43: Love of Sovereignty
kindness does not enter the house newly built, with wet paint still, white picket fences and the softness of chimes rocking little children to bed. rather, kindness enters the house whose baseboards have broken, whose wallpaper is yellowed and faded and whose roof is one small crack from the ruin of caving in. kindness billows … Continue reading Omer, Day 43: Love of Sovereignty
Shamor v’Zachor: Gathering in Shabbat’s Sacred Lights
Wherever you are. However you choose. To gather your hands in And make blessing. Zachor: To remember. and Shomer: To observe this holy day. May you gather in the strength of generations. To bathe yourself in the lights of where you came from and what, now, you must to do and not do for the sake … Continue reading Shamor v’Zachor: Gathering in Shabbat’s Sacred Lights
You are Your Seder Table
Sometimes, the table is not wide enough. There are so many guests that There is hardly space for you. Or maybe there isn't a table. You didn't grow up at one. So, you don't quite know how to recline. Or sit comfortably at a stranger's. In the absence or presence, may you find the strength … Continue reading You are Your Seder Table
Me Too: A Jewish Response to Abuse
I have a name but too often I have been rendered nameless. Me too. I have a voice but too often my voice has not been heeded. Me too. I have a shape but too often my body has been leered at or made invisible. Me too. All these acts. To make a person. This … Continue reading Me Too: A Jewish Response to Abuse
To Ascend Does Not Mean to Not Speak: Blessing for an Intersectional Hanukkah
To ascend does not mean to not speak Of the dead and the dying And the insidiousness of silence that stamps out women in the realm of the living. And to ascend does not mean to pour oil over the living dead Of anointing our joy over our starvation And the draping of miracles over … Continue reading To Ascend Does Not Mean to Not Speak: Blessing for an Intersectional Hanukkah
Shake Us & Unsettle Us: A Modern Tefilat Ha-Geshem
To be inserted in the Amidah on Shemini Atzeret in memory of the fallen during the Yom Kippur War. The former generally coincides with the last day or two of the latter. Barukh atah Adonai eloheinu melekh ha’olam… G-d, let us remember the moment of this cease-fire and pray that the downpour of your tears and ours softens the hearts of … Continue reading Shake Us & Unsettle Us: A Modern Tefilat Ha-Geshem
Devon Spier 