A Moment of Radical Normalcy
  © Rabbi Menachem Creditor 
I stood on my porch,
  set to embark on
  pilgrimage to Israel, 
  when a family 
  from my neighborhood walked by.
Their hijabs made me pause.
What if they and I 
  could be loving neighbors 
  not only here,  
  but in our lands of promise? 
As I wondered,  
  one of them called out, 
  "Shalom, " 
  to which I replied: 
  "a salaam aleikum."
The children 
  who are my neighbors 
  peeked over my fence,  
  asking their mothers, 
  "who wished us peace?" 
My heart broke with
  one simple truth: 
  I do.
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