Tag Archives: Judaism

Passover: Blood on the Door Posts

By Robin Bates | Published: April 16, 2016

Norman Finkelstein’s powerful poem reflects on the mixed history commemorated by the Passover seder. The event that marked the beginning of the Israelites journey home was also a night of death.

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Live in the Layers, Not on the Litter

By Robin Bates | Published: September 20, 2015

In a perfect poem for Yom Kippur, Stanley Kunitz urges us to look through the litter and wreckage of our lives and see instead “the layers.”

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Waiting for the Messiah to Knock

By Robin Bates | Published: December 14, 2014

Steven Schneider’s Hanukkah celebration occurs in a place the old patriarchs never could have imagined.

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Rich Reflects on Yom Kippur & Conflict

By Robin Bates | Published: October 5, 2014

Adrienne Rich’s meditates on the meaning of Yom Kippur in light of America’s divisions and her own longing for solitude.

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The Journeys of the Night Survive

By Robin Bates | Published: April 13, 2014

“Akiba” is a powerful Passover poem by Muriel Rukeyser that links the flight from Egypt to other liberation struggles.

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Yom Kippur – Disordered Souls Thirsting

By Robin Bates | Published: September 23, 2012

The spirit of Yom Kippur is captured through the harvest imagery of a Jane Kenyon poem.

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How Rosh Hashanah Is Like Swimming

By Robin Bates | Published: September 16, 2012

Poet Enid Shomer describes Rosh Hashanah as a swimmer beginning on the surface but eventually sinking deep within the water/rituals.

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Out of Darkness, Sanctified into Being

By Robin Bates | Published: October 2, 2011

Rashani’s poem captures the miracle of Yom Kippur by describing the unbroken arising out of brokenness.

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A Night Different from All Other Nights

By Robin Bates | Published: April 17, 2011

In celebration of the Jewish Passover, which begins Tuesday, I post this beloved poem by Primo Levi, written in 1982, which many people now incorporate into their seder rituals. Knowing that Levi was an Auschwitz survivor gives the poem a special poignancy.

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