Yahrzeit 2021

Glorious and holy are the possibilities of God. 

We’re getting used to the losses

But that’s not the same

As being okay.   



Things are different now.  

We want to go back to normal 

But normal is gone. 

Many died,

We sat shiva  

And now it’s time for yahrzeit. 

So pour a shot of whiskey 

For each member of the minyan. 

L’chaim!

And let us say, amen. 

It’s almost simple:

Democracy is threatened,

The planet is in danger. 

Mourning must end,

We can’t stay in grief

We must act now. 

We are afraid that

There is not enough goodness,

There is not enough hope. 

Blessed One-ness. 

Now is the time for teshuvah, 

returning 

to our true and brave selves.

Now is the time for  tefillah,

imagining 

the future through holy conversations.

Now is the time for tzedukah, 

fighting 

for the survival of all our communities.

Holy Wholeness,

For all the living and in memory of the dead,

For all the possibilities of God,

Let us say Amen

For Mommy, On The Anniversary Of Her Death

I was 16 and away for the summer 

When I found out about women's liberation 

From my first boyfriend, a 19 year old Marxist, Nigel. 

The moment I saw my first feminist flyer,  

I thought, 

This is for me. 

The second thing was, 

I can't wait to tell my mother! 

This is going to change her life! 

She hates her marriage

She hates cooking and cleaning

She hates her children, sometimes.

Now she can be free! 

But she died about a week later, 

while I was still away,

long before email and texting and Zoom.

So I never told her about my discovery. 

I always thought that if she'd just lived until I got home 

Feminism would have saved her. 

Probably not. 

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We Must Pray and We Must Do: A Prayer for Lighting Candles

We give thanks for the ones who offer prayers.

We give thanks for the ones who take action.

We cannot heal the world without both,

We must pray AND we must do.

When so many people

Have vanished into the darkness

We light these candles 

And say the blessings

And pray for those who have been injured or killed or raped.

And pray for those who are worried and homeless and hungry.

And pray for those who are lost to themselves.

May we all be joined in yearning holy conversation

And pray when prayer is needed.

We must pray AND we must do.

When so many people

Have vanished into the darkness

We light these candles

And bless those who are working so hard to make things better.

May we join with the stubborn 

Of all places and religions and races and gender and sexual orientations,

Who, when times are hard,

Refuse to disappear,

Those who fight so hard for their communities

With food and advice and shelter and organizing and work and love and insistence and resistence.

May we all be joined in holy struggle

And act when action is needed. 

We must pray AND we must do.

We give thanks for the ones who offer prayers.

We give thanks for the ones who take action.

We cannot heal the world without both,

Blessed is the Source of Light!

We are holy with the obligation to speak goodness and do good

As we light these Shabbat/Mourning/Hanukkah candles

We will pray and we will do.

Amen