(a response to Merle Feld's "Let my people go that we may serve You”)
I don’t remember girdles
but I remember the anger
we’re not supposed to show.
I’ve always been counted
and I’ve also been dismissed
too often and too easily
I’ve positioned myself so as to be impossible to be seen as
invisible,
but they can still insist I’m irrelevant -
that we women all are
The holy words, the Holy Book,
I apologize for it too often:
that was then
that was them
I find reasons for us to stay.
I write us back into the scroll
When Moses leads fiercely
he is lauded as humble
When I lead fiercely,
confident and competent,
I am labeled “Angry Woman Rabbi”
Even as I clear the path for others
I am repressed
But I carry the scroll passed down by the women
on whose shoulders I stand, and I pass it on
and we hold it tightly
and we dance with it
and we sing
The women, The wrestlers
The teachers and preachers
I’m not fighting to be counted
but I am still fighting
for others to be.
I am obligated to empower
to uplift
I build Holy Communities
sometimes tenderly
other times with less-than-quiet determination
Fully and richly myself
A Jewish woman
A Lady Rabbi
“I won’t let go until you bless me”
I won’t let go until
you recognise the blessings I offer
in return
Now, and going forward; Now,
and for tomorrow
I am heart-full of pride -
NOT humble -
at the chain of Jewish women
I am blessed to be a part of.
Our own chain of tradition,
Regina and Sally and Sophi and Me.
And Bertha and Phina and Miriam and D’vora
and Esther and Ruth
May the world be unimaginable without
the contributions we have brought
to these Holy Temples
May the work of our hands and our hearts
and our minds
Be Blessed
From Lillith to Eve to the last woman standing
(long off may she yet still be)
May we be seen
May we be valued
May we be remembered
May we be blessed.
-EKG ‘23