Topic Tags: captives

This Hanukkah 2023 ritual acknowledges the incompleteness of joy while captives are being held.

This new poem uses the imagery of water through a faucet to capture the feeling of waiting for the captives to be released.

“We are looking for you. / We will not let you go.”

“How do we choose who will live or who will die, what measure do we use / to free them and ourselves from this nightmare…”

“Blessed are You, Creator of the Universe, who frees the bound.”

“One day, / The court of the captives will convene / before the halls of power…”

“Two weeks / have passed / since rockets / split the skies, / and invaders / split our hearts.”

“Master of Compassion, help us hold the humanity and the heartache of the Jewish people while also holding the humanity and the dignity of the Palestinian people.”