At the Jewish New Year
Sep. 15th, 2009 | 10:24 am
I've posted this before, but my thoughts do return to it each year at this time.
At the Jewish New Year
For more than five thousand years
This calm September day
With yellow in the leaf
Has lain in the kernel of Time
While the world outside the walls
Has had its turbulent say
And history like a long
Snake has crawled on its way
And is crawling onward still.
And we have little to tell
On this or any feast
Except of the terrible past.
Five thousand years are cast
Down before the wondering child
Who must expiate them all.
Some of us have replied
In the bitterness of youth
Or the qualms of middle-age:
"If Time is unsatisfied,
And all our fathers have suffered
Can never be enough,
Why, then, we choose to forget.
Let our forgetting begin
With those age-old arguments
In which their minds were wound
Like musty phylacteries;
And we choose to forget as well
Those cherished histories
That made our old men fond,
And already are strange to us.
"Or let us, being today
Too rational to cry out,
Or trample underfoot
What after all preserves
A certain savor yet--
Though torn up by the roots--
Let us make our compromise
With the terror and the guilt
And view as curious relics
Once found in daily use
The mythology, the names
That, however, Time has corrupted
Their ancient purity
Still burn like yellow flames,
But their fire is not for us."
And yet, however, we choose
To deny or to remember,
Though on the calendars
We wake and suffer by,
This day is merely one
Of thirty in September--
In the kernel of the mind
The new year must renew
This day, as for our kind
Over five thousand years,
The task of being ourselves.
Whatever we strain to forget,
Our memory must be long.
May the taste of honey linger
Under the bitterest tongue.
Adrienne Rich
At the Jewish New Year
For more than five thousand years
This calm September day
With yellow in the leaf
Has lain in the kernel of Time
While the world outside the walls
Has had its turbulent say
And history like a long
Snake has crawled on its way
And is crawling onward still.
And we have little to tell
On this or any feast
Except of the terrible past.
Five thousand years are cast
Down before the wondering child
Who must expiate them all.
Some of us have replied
In the bitterness of youth
Or the qualms of middle-age:
"If Time is unsatisfied,
And all our fathers have suffered
Can never be enough,
Why, then, we choose to forget.
Let our forgetting begin
With those age-old arguments
In which their minds were wound
Like musty phylacteries;
And we choose to forget as well
Those cherished histories
That made our old men fond,
And already are strange to us.
"Or let us, being today
Too rational to cry out,
Or trample underfoot
What after all preserves
A certain savor yet--
Though torn up by the roots--
Let us make our compromise
With the terror and the guilt
And view as curious relics
Once found in daily use
The mythology, the names
That, however, Time has corrupted
Their ancient purity
Still burn like yellow flames,
But their fire is not for us."
And yet, however, we choose
To deny or to remember,
Though on the calendars
We wake and suffer by,
This day is merely one
Of thirty in September--
In the kernel of the mind
The new year must renew
This day, as for our kind
Over five thousand years,
The task of being ourselves.
Whatever we strain to forget,
Our memory must be long.
May the taste of honey linger
Under the bitterest tongue.
Adrienne Rich
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September
Sep. 9th, 2009 | 09:32 am
I went to a meeting last night that ended at 10:15. As I left the building and walked across the front lawn, a yellow leaf let go of the branch above my head and fluttered to the ground at my feet.
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Rest in Peace
Aug. 29th, 2009 | 04:27 pm
It's been a slow, wet, dreary day. Just right for a funeral.
It's been raining steadily since last night. This morning Primo slept in while Spouse and Seconda walked in to town to go to Peet's. When Primo came down, I had just turned on the television to look at Senator Kennedy's funeral. Though I hadn't planned to watch it, once I started to see the images of the hearse pulling up in front of the cathedral and the mourners gathering, it seemed essential that I stay to see. Primo cuddled up on the couch with me, and Spouse and Seconda joined us when they got home.
I did not realize the extent to which, as a Massachusetts native, I have absorbed via the atmosphere knowledge of the Kennedy family. I said to the kids and Spouse, "Oh, there's Tony Shriver, Eunice's son. He founded Best Buddies. That's Bobby Kennedy Jr. That's Jean, the last surviving sibling." Eunice's children, of course, just buried their mother a couple of weeks ago.
It was a beautiful funeral. Primo and Seconda were thrilled to see their former music teacher singing with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. I was very touched by Ted, Jr.'s story of how his father helped him climb up an icy slope to go sledding, soon after Teddy lost his leg to cancer at 12.
It sounds as though the Senator was a wonderful father, except (and this is a big except) in the example he set in some of his own behavior. He was a terrible husband the first time but got it right the second. His legislative accomplishments affect millions and his acts of kindness must number in the many thousands.
When the funeral ended we realized that the motorcade would pass very close to here on the way to the airport. so we went to the nearby highway overpass and waited in the rain for about 45 minutes, so we could say goodbye.
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A Fitting Tribute
Aug. 28th, 2009 | 04:09 pm
Kennedy and the Jewish activists of the civil-rights movement and the War on Poverty glowed together, reflecting a commonly held set of liberal principles on what is Right and Good. Kennedy carried those values for his entire Senate career.
more
more
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Sad news
Aug. 26th, 2009 | 10:21 am
Senator Kennedy has died.
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I'm beginning to think New Yorkers are crazy
Aug. 19th, 2009 | 12:46 pm
Private school admissions consulting, at $450/hour
Parents try to ban ice cream trucks
God forbid they should say "no."
Parents try to ban ice cream trucks
God forbid they should say "no."
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Watermelon Gazpacho
Jul. 21st, 2009 | 08:37 pm
Had it with supper tonight. Yummy!
about 6 c. watermelon, diced
2 tomatoes, peeled and seeded
1/2 yellow bell pepper, diced
1 small/medium cucumber, peeled and diced
1/4 c chopped red onion
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped
1 T cider vinegar
1 T olive oil
1 t salt
black pepper
1/3 c lime juice
Puree all in food processor. Chill before serving.
Garnish with extra diced watermelon, onion, cucumber, etc.
about 6 c. watermelon, diced
2 tomatoes, peeled and seeded
1/2 yellow bell pepper, diced
1 small/medium cucumber, peeled and diced
1/4 c chopped red onion
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped
1 T cider vinegar
1 T olive oil
1 t salt
black pepper
1/3 c lime juice
Puree all in food processor. Chill before serving.
Garnish with extra diced watermelon, onion, cucumber, etc.
