Shiva: Poems of October 7th
One of my teachers in Rabbinical school used to say that there are two types of bestsellers. One sells 100,000 copies in a single year, the other 1,000 copies for 100 years. Shiva: Poems of October 7th is in the second category, though I hope it will sell far more than 1000 copies this year.
Rachel Korazim, a scholar of Israeli poetry, has made the teaching of Israeli poetry to American Jewish audiences her life’s passion. She believes that connecting Israel to the diaspora requires an immense effort of understanding. American Jews rarely have insight into the Israeli emotional context.
Rachel has commented that Israelis sometimes feel torn by her efforts. The poems she teaches are intimate and painful. Sharing it with American Jews creates a vulnerability. And yet, if we are to understand each other, this work is essential.
And then came October 7th. For Rachel, poetry became a life line. It was a way Israelis could express brokenness as well as hopes for what could be. She uncovered poems on social media, in small publications, in shared email groups. She curated and brought to life a whole world of poetry trying to grapple with the indescribable. For example, a mother living with the fear of her children in the military or held hostage:
I am an almost bereaved mother / Each day a bit more bereaved / I am on the threshold of bereavement.
Suddenly a world is opened for us of the daily fear Israelis carry for their children.
Or this one about grief:
Weeping has been postponed / To next month / To next year. / When will the switch be turned on?
Each poem is a window into someone’s loss, grief and wrestling with catastrophe and war. Each poem gives us, in the United States, insight into what Israelis are feeling. Prose lets us understand thought; poetry emotion. The translations are excellent. Michael Bohnen and Heather Silverman (yes, the Heather Silverman who comes to KE nearly every Shabbat) have done a masterful job of translating often very idiomatic Hebrew into beautiful readable English.
This book is a needed gift. Its words will be hard in some cases, but also bring a much needed comfort to us and the world. Among other places, you can purchase it from Amazon here.
Shabbat Shalom-
Rabbi David Booth
