A Poem from Lori, a Mosaic Project participant

The following poem came out of a workshop from a recent RSH Mosaic Project workshop. We are including it here because we LOVE it...and in honor of national poetry month. Thanks, Lori, for your words.

Holiday by Lori

do holidays have a boss in charge

(“you’re not the boss of the world,” said my 3-year old)

a preservationist

to conjure up theater and audience

feast, gifts, blessings

who mines magic in repeating

calm in familiarity

illumination in recitation

keen on our Seder assignment

me the non-Jewish spouse

in search of a proper COVID19 reading

FOUND!

courtesy of a Brooklyn rabbi’s queer daughter

a fighter for Palestinian rights in Israel

reframing the ritual of hand washing

as today’s act of love

of care

of putting the hyper-vigilant body at ease

of returning to ourselves by washing away what does not serve

now wondering if it fell flat

or landed sufficiently Jewish

even after 44 married years

the fifth question: Jewish enough or not enough

since our marriage was cause for her dying

he is sufficiently Jewish

an eternal watchfulness engrained from birth

to all things Nazi

1951, in fact only six years from the liberating of the camps

he knew of Nazis before he knew how to ride a bike

i sanctify this holiday for him