Steps to Follow in the Event of an Emergency
Jane Medved – When the wind sounds like a siren, find a stairwell Within a city, in the event, in the vicinity of pillars. All loans are forgiven. Lie on the ground. On TV they show how to tie a tourniquet. In the event, within a city, or the vicinity of pillars Place heavy objects […]
One Schnitzel Away
By Ronit Eitan The freezer door opens, and the cool air hits me in the face, giving a momentary reprieve from August’s unbearable humidity. I reach and pull out the red plastic container full of panko breadcrumbs that sits crammed at the back. Although a sizeable container, it is surprisingly light in weight. On the […]
Ep. 1: “From a Face to a Story” with Dr. Yaakov Mascetti
Dr. Yaakov Mascetti, Chair of the Comparative Literature Department at Bar-Ilan University, reflects on presence—both human and divine in his poem ‘Tell Me,’ dedicated to the memory of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a 23-year-old American-Israeli hostage killed in captivity in Gaza. Read the full poem on our Wall.
Tell Me
Tell Me by Yaakov Mascetti I stood alone among a few, Between flags and eulogies, Watching, silently listening. They turned him, slowly and gently, From a face to a story, From abducted to one who loved. A smiling sports fan. The night before the funeral, I climbed to the roof To breathe, to smoke. Gazing […]
Jerusalem Caesarean
Geula Geurts – for Rachel Goldberg-Polin – In this city there are women who’ve had their bellies split open seven times to fulfill the mitzvah of multiplying fruit, the holiest seed in the pomegranate spills out red & wet, a commandment so fierce it can only be the hand of Fear Himself pounding down […]
In Rembrandt’s Workshop
By Prof. William Kolbrener I have been sheltering – with Rembrandt. My self-portrait came with Dutch postmarks – inside the parcel, the hemp string knotted, the thick brown paper torn-open, the smooth laser-printed acrylic surface underneath. Glassy depth and weight. My portable shelter. Rembrandt made between 80 and 100 self-portraits. Hamlet has 7 soliloquies. In […]
Miklat
Vered Tohar – Blessed is my Bubbe Golda Katzikal May her Memory be for a blessing No longer with us But always with me Not seeing Jewish children Hiding In closets Again. Vered Tohar is professor in the Department of the Literature of the Jewish People at Bar Ilan University Translated from the Hebrew by […]
No Shelter
Noa Offek – I don’t believe in statistics. Let me rephrase — I have too much respect for potential scenarios to accept the flattened statistical version presented to the masses in goodwill and with a reassuring smile. My grandparents have thirty seconds to get to a shelter when the siren goes off. But statistics do […]
Helter Shelter
Mendel Horowitz is a practicing psychotherapist in Jerusalem My grandparents had their silence, Noah had his ark. My neighbors have their refuge On the second floor. With blast doors, First aid kits and Psalms, Rechargeable batteries, water, And emergency lights. I have mostly these words On this paper, And explosive music In my head. Some […]
Life Sentence
Roy Atadgy is a novelist, living in Westchester, Pennsylvania I’m known to hide in sentences. Living between punctuation, Rubix-cubing words, interrogating them, inspecting them obsessively––this is my ultimate comfort. When it comes to sentences, to the battleground of sentences (in which words are disordered soldiers), deciphering its perfect architecture, ordering the disorder, is not only where […]
