(Written during the LA wildfires, January 2025)
by Harriet Wolpoff (San Diego, CA)
About 16 million
That’s how many Jews
Are in the world right now
Of them,
Over 100,000 are displaced
Inside Israel
And here, in LA,
How many
Of the over 100,000 displaced
Are also Jews?
How many Shabbat candles
Will be lit tonight
On hotel dressers?
How many heads will rest
On pillows not their own?
How many fears will surface
In strange rooms
Or in tunnels?
We need a miracle Shabbat
There and here
One that returns
Internal refugees
To their homes safely
One that provides
New, hopeful dwellings
For our homeless
Protected from
The ravages of terrorists,
The ravages of climate change
Ufros aleynu sukkat shlomecha
Ceilings, walls, floors
That will never be taken for granted.
Harriet Wolpoff is retired after several years in the New York City public school system and a forty year career in Jewish education in San Diego, winning many awards for ground-breaking programming. She has been studying Israeli poetry with Rachel Korazim for over four years. Harriet is proudest of being a wife, mother, and Bubbe of three grandchildren who inspire many of her poems.
The Jewish Writing Project 