Chapter 7, "Israel," delves into a tumultuous year living in Israel during the intifada, and then expands to offer a thoughtful overview of the relationship of American Jews to Israel. Explored in depth is the political awakening of the author, an awakening which resulted in her organizing and facilitating dialogue groups for Israeli and Palestinian women on the West Bank. The poems and prose in this chapter open for the reader worlds of street demonstrations, political activism, violence, assassination, as well as worlds of sensory and mystical delight.
The end of our sabbatical year fell at the same time as Tisha B'Av, the solemn fast day which mourns the destruction of the first and second Temples in Jerusalem. I heard some friends complain as they labored to prepare the special chanting for the day from Echa, the Book of Lamentations--how can we continue each year to mourn a Temple we in fact don't want rebuilt--and I suddenly knew with perfect clarity what the day meant for me.
Together we sit on the ground
and mourn for the peace of Jerusalem
like the treasure we each wanted--
we pulled and we pulled
you pulled and I pulled
and yes of course
finally we succeeded
in pulling it apart.
We watched together
as it fell to the ground
and smashed at our feet,
tears sprang to my eyes
tears to yours
each
separately
longing to undo the moment
to walk backwards into the past
to undo the moment
the moments of pulling
to walk backwards into the past
to the moment when
we could have shared
or taken turns
or something.
Come my friend
(for haven't we become friends after all
sharing our intimate
our primal pain)
come my friend
come sit with me on the ground
let us heap ashes on each other
gently tenderly
I will teach you the melody
of my Echa
together we will sit on the ground
and mourn for the peace of Jerusalem.