Pilgrimage
By Maxim D. Shrayer – Old virile German men and women come to the Holy Land in early November, warm their bones at the edge of the Dead Sea, admire Jacques Offenbach at the Israeli Opera, and sigh with bravura over their long lost youth right at the entrance to Yad Vashem. Old sentimental Austrian men […]
Bad Timing for a Prophet
By David Allard – For seven years, he sat, squinting, by the whispering waves of the sea-lagoon, fingers playing with small hills and valleys of a million purple-tinged shells, stuttering at the fishermen’s questions waiting for a voice – a sign. Weary of the wet sand, the sickly fruit of the tall trees, he strode […]
October Words
By Eve Grubin – I try to speak slant or bright. My words meet triangles of fire, thrown. Meanings I make disintegrate. I try to speak slant or bright. If I say… pogrom, the turning begins… I become mute. I must not say, I cannot name… So many words can’t be said. No matter what, […]
Steps to Follow in the Event of an Emergency
By 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 […]
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 […]
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
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 upwards, […]
Jerusalem Caesarean
By 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 on […]
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. […]
Miklat
By 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 […]
