Yahrzeit of October 7th

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Nearly 100 DJC community members. That is how many of us came together a few days ago to commemorate the Yahrzeit of October 7, 2023. That’s the number of hostages still in Gaza. Perhaps that is not a coincidence, for the universe sometimes acts in remarkable and unexplainable ways. 

We gathered to sing, cry, grieve, mourn, remember, and mark the day with a Yahrzeit candle. We ended by singing Hatikvah, full-throated, wiping away tears, holding onto one another. If you were there, you know how powerful the experience was for you, for me, and everyone in attendance. If you were not there, well, I wish you had been. We are stronger when we show up for one another in such challenging times. We are stronger when we acknowledge the pain that another is feeling. We are stronger together.

I want to share some of the and offerings so that you can read and listen to them again and again as we remember and mourn one year.

May this all be over soon. Kein Yehi Ratzon.

LONGING |

געגועIRIS ELIYA COHEN

(translation by Jonathan Paradise)תְּאֵנָה אַחַתשֶׁנִּשְׁכְּחָה עַל הָעֵץבְּסוֹף הַקַּיִץמַזְכִּירָה לִישֶׁיָּכֹל הָיָה לִהְיוֹת פֹּהגַּן עֵדֶןA single figThat was forgotten on the treeAt summer’s endReminds meThat here there could have beenParadise.

For Weeks I’ve Been Bleeding Poems

IRIS ELIYA COHEN

(translation by Jonathan Paradise)“אֲנִי קוֹרֵאת לַקֹּבֶץ ”יָגוֹןמוֹחֶקֶת“קוֹרֵאת לוֹ ”אוֹקְטוֹבֶּר“מְשַׁנָּה לְ”שִׁבְעָה“מַחֲלִיפָה לְ”תְּהוֹם“מְשַׁנָּה: ”תְּהוֹמוֹת“קוֹרֵאת לוֹ ”כִּשְׁאוֹל“קוֹרֵאת לוֹ ”תִּקְוָהמוֹרָה לַמַּחְשֵׁב שֶׁיִּזְכֹּר“הוּא עוֹנֶה לִי ”שׁוֹמֵר אֶת תִּקְוָהI name the file “sorrow”I deleteName it “October”Change it to “7”Replace it with “chasm”Change: “chasms”Name it “hell-like”I name it “hope”Command the computer to rememberIt responds “saving hope”

For One Who Died by Violence

from

Mishkan HaNefesh

(adapted) Rabbis Janet and Sheldon Marderקֹול ּדְמי אָחִיָך צעֲקִים אֵלַי מן־הָאֲדָמה׃

Your brother’s blood cries to Me from the ground.

(Genesis 4:10)Creator of life, Source of healing, grant peace in Your great shelter of peace to our loved ones whose lives ended abruptly through acts of senseless violence. With sadness we recall the joy that they brought into the world; those voices and faces we will never forget. May these precious memories console us. Let there be light— to guide our way through the shadow of loss. We long with all our beings for an end to baseless hatred, war, and violence. May a time come soon when no one will suffer or die at the hands of another. May our loved ones’ souls be embraced by You— free of pain now, held in tenderness and love. We will cherish forever these lives now lost: blessings in the bond of life everlasting, blessings here and now.

On Be’ri’s Walls

Anadad Eldanעַל קִירוֹת בְּאֵרִי כָּתַבְתִּי קוֹרוֹתֶיהָמִמְּקוֹרוֹת וּמַעֲמַקִּים קְרוּעֵי קֹרעֵת קָרְאוּ אֶת הַקּוֹרֶה בַּכְּאֵב וְאוֹרוֹתֶיהָנָפְלוּ לַעֲרָפֶל וַאֲפִלַּת לַיְלָה וִילָלָה כְּמָקוֹרלַתְּפִלָּה כִּי נָפְלוּ יְלָדֶיהָ וְדֶלֶת נְעוּלָהלְרַחֲמֵי שָׁמַיִם נוֹשְׁמִים שְׁמָמָה וּשְׁכוֹלהוֹרִים לְלֹא רַחֲמִים מִי יְנַחֵם כִּי קְלָלָהלוֹחֶשֶׁת אַל טַל וּמָטָר וּמֻתָּר לִבְכּוֹת לְמִי שֶׁיָּכוֹל

יֵשׁ שָׁעָה רוֹחֶשֶׁת חֹשֶׁךְ אַךְ יֵשׁ שַׁחַר וְהִלָּהּ

On Be’eri’s walls I wrote her storyfrom origins and depths wrenched from the coldthey now read what happened in pain and her lightthat fell into the mist and darkness of night and a primeval cryfor a prayer, her children have fallen and a door is lockedfor the grace of heaven they breathe desolation and sorrowWho will comfort inconsolable parents, for a cursewhispers may you have neither dew nor rain and whoever is able may weepThere is an hour when darkness roars, but there is dawn and radiance

One Tiny Seed

Rachel Goldberg-PolinThere is a lullaby that says your mother will cry a thousand tears before you grow to be a man.I have cried a million tears in the last 67 days.We all have.And I know that way over therethere’s another womanwho looks just like mebecause we are all so very similarand she has also been crying.All those tears, a sea of tearsthey all taste the same.Can we take themgather them up,remove the saltand pour them over our desert of despairand plant one tiny seed.A seed wrapped in fear,trauma, pain,war and hopeand see what grows?Could it bethat this womanso very like methat she and I could be sitting together in 50 yearslaughing without teethbecause we have drunk so much sweet tea togetherand now we are so very oldand our faces are creasedlike worn-out brown paper bags.And our sonshave their own grandchildrenand our sons have long livesOne of them without an armBut who needs two arms anyway?Is it all a dream?A fantasy? A prophecy?One tiny seed.

My Silent Prayer

Rabbi Hanna YerushalmiDuring this moment of silence, bring me the grief of my people, centuries born and centuries old, and let it inspire me to still love the world. Connect me with fleeting grace and the prophet’s power to keep opening up my soul even when it is seared with loss. Bring me the courage to quiet my desperate need for answers by letting hearts touch hearts on some imagined coastal plain. Connect me with the calm of a desert valley after a surprise flash flood, the rich pause between musical notes, or the serenity of a Jerusalem street on Shabbat. Bring me the tentative hope in a room before a newborn’s cry. Connect me to the frail, silvery thread that links me to the humanity of my neighbor. During this moment of silence, though there are horrors all around, in spite of everything that directs me not, let the more loving one be—me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POovAKZyqLY

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From Rabbi Ilyse Glickman:

This is our ongoing blog series to introduce the DJC community to podcasts, books, websites, and other offerings that may expand our understandings of the current war in particular and Israel/Palestine more broadly. I hope you listen/watch/read these recommendations with curiosity, openness, and empathy. Please let me know what you think about today’s offerings: rabbiglickman@djctoronto.com. I look forward to the conversation.