It begins on the second night
of the Festival of PassoverPassover is a major Jewish holiday that commemorates the Jewish people's liberation from slavery and Exodus from Egypt. Its Hebrew name is Pesakh. Its name derives from the tenth plague, in which God "passed over" the homes of the Jewish firstborn, slaying only the Egyptian firstborn. Passover is celebrated for a week, and many diaspora Jews celebrate for eight days. The holiday begins at home at a seder meal and ritual the first (and sometimes second) night. Jews tell the story of the Exodus using a text called the haggadah, and eat specific food (matzah, maror, haroset, etc)..
We count for Forty-nine days
until we reach SinaiAccording to the Torah, God, in the presence of the Jewish people, gave Moses the Torah on Mount Sinai (Har Sinai)..
We count Forty-nine days,
until we receive the TorahThe Five Books of Moses, and the foundation of all of Jewish life and lore. The Torah is considered the heart and soul of the Jewish people, and study of the Torah is a high mitzvah. The Torah itself a scroll that is hand lettered on parchment, elaborately dressed and decorated, and stored in a decorative ark. It is chanted aloud on Mondays, Thursdays, and Shabbat, according to a yearly cycle. Sometimes "Torah" is used as a colloquial term for Jewish learning and narrative in general..
But this year,
the counting did not start
on the second night of Pesakh.
The counting started on the evening
of the Seventh of October.
When the dust settled,
we were left with numbers.
numbers of towns attacked,
numbers of homes stormed,
numbers of families destroyed,
numbers of civilians killed,
numbers of hostages taken.
numbers of Palestinians displaced.
Numbers of children lost.
but the numbers that continue to grow
are the hardest numbers to swallow.
We cannot count
the number of dead anymore.
It has grown too high for us
to imagine in our minds.
The number of civilian casualties,
Homes
Businesses
Hospitals
Schools
Temples
Mosques
Humans
All lost, as though the price
of this war was not a living being.
So, we count.
Counting not the lives,
not the homes,
not the ruins,
but the days.
We have reached time
that no longer should be counted
in weeks.
We have reached numbers
that need to be counted
in months.
Time spent waiting.
Time spent hoping.
Time spent praying.
Time spent in ways it should not be spent
when spring has begun in the land.
Hayom mata’im yom, she’hem shisha chod’shim, sh’nei shavu’ot v’shisha yamim la’hamtanah
Today is two hundred days; which is six months, two weeks, and six days of waiting.
Waiting for the release of the Hostages
Waiting for the end of the War
Waiting for the rebuilding of Gaza
Waiting for Humanitarian aid
Waiting for enough to be enough
Waiting for the end of the death
Waiting for Peace
Waiting for love
Still counting.
Waiting.
While the numbers grow faster
than we can count them.
Still counting.
Because it is all that remains.
Still counting;
Waiting;
For tomorrow to be the first day:
The first day after the War.
The first day…
Waiting to say
הַיּוֹם יוֹם אֶחָד לְשָׁלוֹם
HaYom Yom Echad l’Shalom
