Days of Awe and Darkness Mindy Schwartz-Brown
As Neilah ended Yom Kippur last year , A line of two to five-year-olds with glow sticks and lighted glasses , Snaked through the sanctuary and then toward their families . This gift from God assured a future , A solemn day ’ s work rewarded .
Not two weeks later , on Shemini Atzeret here , Simchat Torah there , Terrorists , not teachers , Marched child survivors away . Burned babies and entire dead families remained .
Here , once at shul , I heard Saw faces drawn , gray , On the holiday whose Nusach I love the best , Expecting the perfect cantillation , A communal scream blocked its sound .
The world , turned upside down that day , Has yet to right itself and may well not . For Jews , history is a broken record , Needle stuck in a deep , black crack .
I told the rabbi God was gaslighting us . And read about anger as sin in the Jewish tradition . While in my head raging words never ceased “ Eil rachum v ’ chanun , erech apayim ve ’ rav hesed v ’ emet .” Tinnitus with holy lyrics .
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