Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Rosh Hashanah Opens to the Page

September 21, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which began last evening and ends on the evening of September 22. The ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) are a time when one’s repentance may affect whether one is written into the book of life or the book of death for the coming year.

Today’s poem is a Rosh Hashanah poem about the need to pray for, and atone for, everyone.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Rosh Hashanah opens to the page
On which is writ, for good or ill, our fate.
Still wrestling with angels, we engage,
Harrowing our hearts, our future state.
However, "we" encompasses us all,
As though we were but droplets in a wave
Suspended on its journey to the shore,
Hard put to any single droplet save.
And so we pray not only for ourselves,
Nor only for our family, friends, or tribe:
All must be our congregation, else
How might we turn to God to turn the tide?

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/roshh2.html. For more poems for Rosh Hashanah, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/yomkippurpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Rosh Hashanah
September 21: Rosh Hashanah Opens to the Page

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