Category Archives: Poetry

Seeing Life In the Distance

Posted on September 11, 2013 by Sicha, Continuing the Conversation

Imagine a life in which repentance—teshuvah—is not necessary; a life in which there is no distance to close between action and ideal. According to the 3rd century sage, Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba, the promise of such a life was beyond … Continue reading →

Posted in Days of Awe, Poetry, Talmud | Leave a comment

In Light of Obligation

Posted on August 20, 2013 by Sicha, Continuing the Conversation

Halacha is law; the obligated Jewish life. To live without halacha is impossible. To live with it is risky— from a lecture by Rabbi David Hartman. When halachic man looks to the western horizon and sees the fading rays of … Continue reading →

Posted in Midrash, Poetry, Prayer, Talmud | 3 Comments

More Moment Than Mountain

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Sicha, Continuing the Conversation

Ancient legends say that great mountains contended to be the site where God would reveal the Torah. But God did not have loftiness in mind: Mount Tabor and Mount Carmel presented themselves with pride as wide as the world saying:  … Continue reading →

Posted in Holidays, Midrash, Poetry, Talmud, Torah | Leave a comment

Giving God A Hand

Posted on March 1, 2013 by Sicha, Continuing the Conversation

In memory of Rabbi David Hartman …a memorial between your eyes (Exodus 13:9) During what turned out to be Rabbi David Hartman’s final lesson in his beloved summer Rabbinic Torah Seminar, he shared a personal prayer that he would offer … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry, Prayer, Talmud | 2 Comments

Monumental Presence

Posted on December 28, 2012 by Sicha, Continuing the Conversation

(In memory of Talia Agler) The solace of a gravestone is its solidity—a feature carried in the Hebrew word matzevah, meaning “firmly fixed.” But a gravestone need not merely be a solid surface that reflects the past. It can be … Continue reading →

Posted in Memory, Midrash, Poetry | 1 Comment

“Pleas” Knock

Posted on September 24, 2012 by Sicha, Continuing the Conversation

That place, just above the latch to the left that no one has or ever will touch the place hidden, on which no one has laid a hand the place that does not know how to ask- It is the … Continue reading →

Posted in Days of Awe, Holidays, Poetry, Prayer | 2 Comments

Raised, Not Razed

Posted on August 21, 2012 by Sicha, Continuing the Conversation

Here in a place where a ruin wants once more to be a new house, its desire increases our own…. Everything here is busy with the work of remembering: the ruin remembers… (Click here for complete Amichai poem in Hebrew … Continue reading →

Posted in Elijah, Jerusalem, Poetry, Prayer, Talmud | Leave a comment

Yerushalayim: A Pronounced Hope

Posted on June 25, 2012 by Sicha, Continuing the Conversation

The name, Jerusalem/Yerushalayim, evokes meaning beyond what the word can contain.  Since ancient times, what sounds like the dual plural ending of her name—ayim—has suggested that she is, after all, two cities. She is real estate and also unreal, a … Continue reading →

Posted in Jerusalem, Poetry, Talmud | 3 Comments

Between the Mountain and the Moment

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Sicha, Continuing the Conversation

The last words of the Ten Commandments resound from Sinai and the narrative of revelation continues:  All the people saw the thunder and the lightning, the blare of the horn and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, … Continue reading →

Posted in Holidays, Midrash, Poetry, Torah | 3 Comments

The Perfect Search

Posted on April 4, 2012 by Sicha, Continuing the Conversation

The Mishnah describes how we conclude the search for leaven on the eve of Passover eve: With the last light of the fourteenth of the month, we search out the leaven by the light of a lamp.  Any place where … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry | 3 Comments