Holding You

I held the today

wrapping my arms

around our story.

Such a strange day

for a holiday,

Such an odd day

for dancing.

I was holding you–

my sisters in Tel Aviv

my brothers in Ashkelon.

I was holding you–

my siblings

murdered in the kibbutzim…

my children,

My aunts, my uncles

kidnapped, forced into Gaza.

And I was holding you–

my cousins

born into a strip of

hell at the border.

I hold all of you

All of you,

the Torah tells me–

You are each my family.

Listening to the last lines

of the Torah today,

I saw the last piece of

parchment tied to the

wooden roller.

For the first time

I thought

What if we never

read the beginning again–

What if this last piece of

parchment was the end

Where would my family be?

Who would I hold?

Who would hold me?

—written the evening after Simchat TorahThe holiday at the end of Sukkot during which Jews dance with the Torah late into the night. The yearly reading cycle of the Torah is completed and a new cycle is begun. Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah mark the end of the holiday season. In some congregations, the Torah scroll is unrolled in its entirety, and selected verses are read or sections noted., two days after the attack on IsraelLit. ''the one who struggles with God.'' Israel means many things. It is first used with reference to Jacob, whose name is changed to Israel (Genesis 32:29), the one who struggles with God. Jacob's children, the Jewish people, become B'nai Israel, the children of Israel. The name also refers to the land of Israel and the State of Israel., 50 years after the Yom KippurThe holiest day of the Jewish year and the culmination of a season of self-reflection. Jews fast, abstain from other worldly pleasures, and gather in prayers that last throughout the day. Following Ne'ilah, the final prayers, during which Jews envision the Gates of Repentance closing, the shofar is sounded in one long blast to conclude the holy day. It is customary to begin building one's sukkah as soon as the day ends. War