My Maccabees

This year

My Maccabees

Wrote postcards

Made phone calls

Texted

Knocked on doors (safely)

 

This year

My Maccabees

Taught their children at home

Channeled their anger

Watched a lot of TV

Learned to use Zoom

 

This year

My Maccabees

Reported to work at hospitals

Saw thousands die

Helped many people live

Counseled survivors 

 

This year

My Maccabees

Embraced their righteous anger

Held signs

Organized protests

Marched in the streets

 

This year

My Maccabees

Voted

Made sure everyone else could vote

Danced in the streets

Defended the outcome

This year

My Maccabees

Mourned

Lost their jobs

Stood on lines

Worried

This year

My Maccabees

Wore masks

Washed their hands

Kept their distance

Stayed home

 

Blessed Holy Wholeness — 

I give thanks for these Maccabees,

My heroes.

May they have sustenance in place of anxiety,

Health in place of sickness,

Joy in place of grief,

Justice in place of evil.

Amen

No Hanukkah Party This Year, 2020

So anyway, God,

Here I am. 

Alone

On Hanukkah. 

No party at shul,

No table covered in aluminum foil,

Adorned with menorahs

The families bring from home. 

No cantor leading the blessing,

No tedious contest between latkes and hamentaschen

(Fried potatoes vs. dry prune pastry?  

Don’t waste my time.)

Speaking of, no latkes in the social hall basement,

Or at the party at my neighbors’, no parties at all. 

No presents, from anyone, why should there be?

I’m too old for getting presents 

And there are no children to buy for. 

So why bother lighting the menorah?  

Who for, me?

All alone on a jewishly insignificant minor holiday?

Feh. 

Fire hazard. 

But in a year of lonely death and negligence,

In a year of right wing thugs and fascists,

In a year of proud racists and anti-semites,

I buy an electric hanukiah for the window. 

It has small tasteful blue LED bulbs 

That are hard to see before the fifth night,

Faint light in the winter darkness

But there they are. 

And I imagine all the Jews

All over the world,

Waiting for the sickness and the evil to pass,

Doing the same. 

Amen. 

I'M OVER THE MACCABEES, A Hanukkah Prayer

Baruch Atah Adonai,

Brucha At Shechina,

Ruach HaOlam:

I'm over the Maccabees.

I'm done with fanatics.

I'm done with extremists who demand purity.

I'm done with fundamentalists who shut women up.

I'm done with religions that kill. 

I'm over the Seleucids.

I'm done with invaders stealing land. 

I'm done with fascists and supremacists and antisemites and islamaphobes.

I'm done with people telling me or anyone how I’m allowed to understand my God.

I'm done with liars and rapists and war criminals and powerful men.

I'm over the Hellenists.

I'm done with apologizing for my culture. 

I'm done with rich suck-ups to power.

I'm done with living in comfy bubbles.

I'm done with pretending we're them.

I'm over Hanukkah.

I'm done with Hanukkah bushes.

 I'm done with one good present and then socks.

 I'm done with light in the darkness (I like the dark).

 I'm done with needing miracles. 

I'm okay with rebellion and truth. 

And realistic hope

And potato latkes.

Oh, and donuts,

Let's start there.

Amen

If you find this offering of my work valuable or pleasurable, please consider supporting me with a mutual offering, if you are able:

If you use one of my prayers or kavannot for a service or event you can make a one time donation via my PayPal account.  

PayPal  https://www.paypal.me/trishaarlin  

If you would like to support my work as a sacred artist in an ongoing fashion, please contribute (any amount) on a monthly basis to my Patreon account.

Patreon    https://www.patreon.com/trishaarlin

Thank you!

Trisha

The Light

Illustration by Flash Rosenberg 

© 2020 Flash Rosenberg

flashrosenberg.com

Imagine that you are in a room in your home
A room that has a door
And the door is closed
Your favorite room
The room you feel safest in
A room where nothing changes
And nothing challenges
And you sit in this room
And look around you
And you see that the room is dark
Very dark
That the safety of the room has taken all the color out of this room
Where the darkness becomes darker
And the days grow short
And you do not see what you do not want to see
And you are safe
And warm
But you are ignorant.
Sit in this ignorant safety for a moment.

Now in this safe dark room, you look towards the closed door
And you see a sliver of light coming from underneath
Imagine that you rise up and walk to the door
And you open it
And you see that outside this safe room
It is winter
Everything is covered in snow
But you are in the dark room,
This narrow place
So you leave the room
You are outside in a beautiful winter meadow
Covered in snow
And you have your winter clothes on now
So you are warm
But the ground is covered with whiteness
And the light is bright
And the trees surrounding the meadow have no leaves
But the light is magnificent
It’s still cold
You can’t pretend it’s spring
You must see things as they are
You must wear warm clothes
But the days are growing longer
When the world seems most devoid of life
You can see the future.
Someday there will be spring.

You see the beauty and the cold
You see the truth
You see the possibilities
You are one with the One-ness
In the beautiful winter light.

And in this light, you see Light.

If you find this offering of my work valuable or pleasurable, please consider supporting me with a mutual offering, if you are able:

If you use one of my prayers or kavannot for a service or event you can make a one time donation via my PayPal account.  

PayPal  https://www.paypal.me/trishaarlin  

If you would like to support my work as a sacred artist in an ongoing fashion, please contribute (any amount) on a monthly basis to my Patreon account.

Patreon    https://www.patreon.com/trishaarlin

Thank you!

Trisha

We Must Pray and We Must Do: A Prayer for Lighting Candles

We give thanks for the ones who offer prayers.

We give thanks for the ones who take action.

We cannot heal the world without both,

We must pray AND we must do.

When so many people

Have vanished into the darkness

We light these candles 

And say the blessings

And pray for those who have been injured or killed or raped.

And pray for those who are worried and homeless and hungry.

And pray for those who are lost to themselves.

May we all be joined in yearning holy conversation

And pray when prayer is needed.

We must pray AND we must do.

When so many people

Have vanished into the darkness

We light these candles

And bless those who are working so hard to make things better.

May we join with the stubborn 

Of all places and religions and races and gender and sexual orientations,

Who, when times are hard,

Refuse to disappear,

Those who fight so hard for their communities

With food and advice and shelter and organizing and work and love and insistence and resistence.

May we all be joined in holy struggle

And act when action is needed. 

We must pray AND we must do.

We give thanks for the ones who offer prayers.

We give thanks for the ones who take action.

We cannot heal the world without both,

Blessed is the Source of Light!

We are holy with the obligation to speak goodness and do good

As we light these Shabbat/Mourning/Hanukkah candles

We will pray and we will do.

Amen