Preserve the memory of your loved one with a plaque on our Yahrzeit(Yiddish) The anniversary of a death, usually marked by the lighting of a 24-hour yahrzeit candle and the recitation of Kaddish, the memorial prayer. For U.S. Jews, the unveiling of the headstone usually takes place on or around the first yahrzeit. Wall. Learn More ->

We Are the Magicians

We are the magicians
it is more than staff into snake we seek.

We dream a sentence into life.

We must.

We are skilled in the kitchen
of language and longing
baking leftover letters
into nourishment
for our hungry.

MiriamMiriam is the sister of Moses and Aaron. As Moses' and Aaron's sister she, according to midrash, prophesies Moses' role and helps secure it by watching over the young baby, seeing to it that Pharaoh's daughter takes him and that the baby is returned to his mother for nursing. During the Israelites' trek through the desert, a magical well given on her behalf travels with the Israelites, providing water, healing, and sustenance. you are our finest
patchwork kittelA white robe in which one is buried. Also worn at Passover, on Yom Kippur, and at one's wedding as a symbol of rebirth.
dusty scraps from history’s cutting floor
silk like grandmother’s lips
and new truths ablaze
with laughing
and the murmur of girls
studying TalmudThe rabbinic compendium of lore and legend composed between 200 and 500 CE. Study of the Talmud is the focus of rabbinic scholarship. The Talmud has two versions, the main Babylonian version (Bavli) and the smaller Jerusalem version (Yerushalmi). It is written in Rabbinic Hebrew and Aramaic. and dance.

Miriam we kiss your fringes
gulp down the water
we bless with your name.

Miriam, on this night we are free
Five thousand years of desert
and now everywhere wells.

From A Night of Questions: A 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). HaggadahLit. "Telling.” The haggadah is the book used at the seder table on Passover to tell the story of the Exodus, the central commandment of the holiday. It is rich in song, prayer, and legend. There are many different version of the Haggadah produced throughout Jewish history. edited by Rabbi Joy Levitt and Rabbi Michael Strassfeld (Elkins Park, Pennsylvania: The Reconstructionist Press, 1999) 1-877-JRF-PUBS

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