Tag Archives: souls

Tashlich

by Judith R. Robinson (Pittsburgh, PA)

We live the days

between the days

of awe and lamentation.

Down to the river’s edge

the pale rabbi treks, arrives,

sways, raises a fist

plump full of crumbs

to cast into the sparkling

current of hope.

Where are the fish?

Where are the fish big enough

to swallow these sins?

To eat our sins

and swim off, swim off, fish!

Take our sins with you!

Purify us, save us, 

let us begin again

souls washed clean again,

we pray 

       we pray 

             we pray

one more year 

         one more year 

                one more year.

Judith R. Robinson is an editor, teacher, fiction writer, poet and visual artist. A summa cum laude graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, she is listed in the Directory of American Poets and Writers. She has published 100+ poems, five poetry collections, one fiction collection; one novel; edited or co-edited eleven poetry collections. If you’d like to learn more about her and her work, visit her website: www.judithrrobinson.com

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Filed under American Jewry, history, Jewish, Jewish identity, Jewish writing, Judaism, poetry

Heaven, Seriously?

by Mel Glenn (Brooklyn, NY)

We Jews are a bit vague when asked
about the actual parameters of heaven.
Many believe the souls of the righteous
go directly to a place similar to heaven,
or will be resurrected when the Messiah comes.
The Torah provides little expansion on the topic,
but bound as I am by earthly existence
I’d like some geographical reference points.
Is an after-life someplace west of the moon,
catty-corner to the Milky Way?
Should it not come equipped
with a signpost or a GPS?
I have trouble accepting
this life is but a mere foyer
to the Grand Ballroom of heaven,
believing instead that dancing
is to be encouraged terrestrially,
with feet grounded in the here and now.
Would that I had the comfort of knowing
where my soul will pirouette past time,
given the lack of clear and present instruction.

The author of twelve books for young adults, Mel Glenn has lived nearly all his life in Brooklyn, NY, where he taught English at A. Lincoln High School for thirty-one years. Lately, he’s been writing poetry, and you can find his most recent poems in the YA anthology, This Family Is Driving Me Crazy, edited by M. Jerry Weiss.

If you’d like to learn more about his work, visit: http://www.melglenn.com/

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Filed under American Jewry, Jewish identity, poetry