© Rabbi Menachem Creditor
inspired by Jenni Mangel, Dan Schifrin, Susan Berrin, and Sara Bamberger
Expelled from the garden,
I became
Noah's ark,
Joseph's coffin,
Moses' reed basket,
willow branches upon which
dislocated Jews hung their unsinging harps.
I am a cedar in Lebanon,
the doorway to a rebuilt Temple,
books burned and kissed,
a table for rhythmic banging,
the paper record for marginalized roots.
I am
the very air itself.