Perhaps Your Only Ritual Is the Seder

April 21, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is faith and Jewish identity, in honor of Passover, which begins on the evening of April 22.

Today’s poem is a Passover poem about a Jew who wants to keep in contact with the past but no longer shares its faith.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Perhaps your only ritual is the Seder,

All that’s left of what was once a Jew.

Suppose you’ve found the rest’s no longer you,

Still working on a self that surfaced later.

Oh, yes, this one last bit of times gone by,

Vividly alive in prayer and song,

Endures, although the past for which you long

Remains rooted in a faith you now deny.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/perha8.html. For more Passover poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/passoverpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Faith and Jewish Identity.

April 18: Praised Be Those Who Don’t Believe the Tale

April 19: How Best Can We Remember We Were Slaves

April 20: Part of Being Jewish Is a Choice

April 21: Perhaps Your Only Ritual Is the Seder