The poems in this post are part of a special section, curated by Ori Z Soltes and Robert Bettmann, The Jewish Experience.
AND THE SOUND OF TEARING
By Rivka Miriam
Translated by Linda Stern Zisquit
And the sound of tearing
when the soul is torn from the wind and the wind is torn from the spirit
and into the absence of heaven, grain after grain, the earth is torn.
And how, in order to see what is ahead, all the stories that we told were standing on our doorstep, all the stories that were ever told since the one book split into branches.
And how you then said, the great God, whose eternity prevents him from dying, experiences his death through ours.
And how, when there was no longer sacred and profane
when we forgot even God’s name
we would utter without sound
like children, the names of our forefathers – Abraham, Isaac, Israel.
וְקוֹל הַקְּרִיעָה
כְּשֶׁהַנֶּפֶשׁ נִקְרַעַת מֵהָרוּחַ וְהָרוּחַ נִתְלֶשֶׁת מִן הַנְּשָׁמָה
וּלְתוֹךְ אֵינוּת הַשָּׁמַיִם, גַּרְגֵּר אַחַר גַּרְגֵּר, נִקְרַעַת הָאֲדָמָה.
וְאֵיךְ, כְּדֵי לִרְאוֹת מָה יִהְיֶה הָלְאָה, עָמְדוּ עַל סִפֵּנוּ כָּל הַסִּפּוּרִים שֶׁסִּפַּרְנוּ, כָּל הַסִּפּוּרִים שֶׁסֻּפְּרוּ אֵי-פַּעַם מֵאָז שֶׁהַסֵּפֶר הָאֶחָד הִתְפַּצֵּל לַעֲנָפָיו.
וְאֵיךְ אָמַרְתָּ, הָאֵל הַגָּדוֹל, שֶׁנִּצְחִיּוּתוֹ מוֹנַעַת מִמֶּנּוּ לָמוּת, חוֹוֶה אֶת מוֹתוֹ בְּמוֹתֵנוּ.
וְאֵיךְ, כִכְּלוֹת גַּם קֹדֶשׁ גַּם חֹל
כְּשֶׁנִּשְׁכַּח מֵעִמָּנוּ גַּם שְׁמוֹ שֶׁל הָאֵל
הָיִינוּ הוֹגִים בְּלֹא קוֹל
כִּילָדִים, אֶת שְׁמוֹת אֲבוֹתֵינוּ – אַבְרָהָם, יִצְחָק, יִשְׂרָאֵל
SUMMER
By Nadia Adina Rose
Translated by Linda Stern Zisquit
We are cooked in the pot of war
the ladle of days stirs in our gut,
seasons change, adding spices,
no taste. Mortal danger burns in the lips.
Heaven – fragile as an egg –
boils with us, becoming hard.
Clinging to the sides of the country – a scorched container
we are ingredients in a recipe
that unifies more powerful than a melting pot.
קיץ
אֲנַחְנוּ מִתְבַּשְּׁלִים בְּסִיר הַמִּלְחָמָה
מַצֶּקֶת הַיָּמִים בּוֹחֶשֶׁת בִּקְרָבַיִם,
עוֹנוֹת מִתְחַלְּפוֹת, מוֹסִיפוֹת תַּבְלִינִים,
אֵין טָעַם. סַכָּנַת חַיִּים צוֹרֶבֶת בִּשְׂפָתַיִם.
שָׁמַיִם – שַׁבְרִירִיִּים כְּמוֹ בֵּיצָה –
רוֹתְחִים אִתָּנוּ, נַעֲשִׂים קָשִׁים.
דְּבוּקִים לִדְפָנוֹת הַמְּדִינָה – מְכָל חָרוּךְ
אֲנַחְנוּ רְכִיבִים שֶׁל מַתְכּוֹן
הַמַּאֲחִיד חָזָק יוֹתֵר מִכּוּר הִתּוּךְ.
Originally published in Yediot Aharonot, Friday, September 6, 2024
Linda Stern Zisquit has published six poetry collections, including Korah’s Daughter (2022), Return from Elsewhere (2014) and Havoc: New & Selected Poems (2013). Her translations from Hebrew include works by Yona Wallach, Rivka Miriam and Hedva Harechavi. She is Associate Professor (emerita) and for many years was poetry coordinator for the Creative Writing Program at Bar Ilan University. Born in Buffalo, NY, she lives in Israel where she teaches and runs Artspace, a gallery in Jerusalem representing local artists.
Rivka Miriam, poet and painter, was born in Jerusalem, where she continues to live and work. Daughter of the renowned Yiddish writer Leib Rochman and named for his mother and sister who perished in the Holocaust, Rivka Miriam’s poetry collections in Hebrew have received numerous literary awards.
Nadia Adina Rose is an Israeli poet and artist who was born in Moscow and has lived in Israel since the age of 22. Active as a sculptor and art teacher, her two poetry collections in Hebrew have won literary awards. Her first collection Snow Ink is dedicated to her sister who was killed in a terror attack in 2004.
Chardin – Still Life, circa 1728-1730, 35.54, Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, creative commons via wikimedia commons.
