The Jews are the most tenacious people in history. Hebron is there to prove it. It ties 20 miles south of Jerusalem, 3,000 feet up in the Judaean hills. There, in the Cave of Machpelah, are the Tombs of the Patriarchs. According to ancient tradition, one sepulcher, itself of great antiquity, contains the mortal remains of Abraham, founder of the Jewish religion and ancestor of the Jewish race. Paired with his tomb is that of his wife Sarah. Within the building are the twin tombs of his son Isaac and his wife Rebecca. Across the inner courtyard is another pair of tombs, of Abraham's grandson Jacob and his wife Leah. Just outside the building is the tomb of their son Joseph. This is where the 4,000-year history of the Jews, in so far as it can be anchored in time and place, began.
Paul Johnson in A History of the Jews, Chapter One: Israelites (1987)
Submitted by Dan Costinaş
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Related quotes
The Mystery of Israel
This is the mystery of Israel, and how they fit into God’s will.
God met with this man Abram, when this man had not a son.
He told him to leave his kin, and go to a place He’d show him.
His name changed to Abraham, for he’d be given many lands.
God told him he’d have a son, when he and Sarah had no one.
Then Abraham simply gasped, while his wife Sarah laughed.
So Sarah decided to use Hagar, although God played no part.
Hagar and Abraham had a son, but he wasn’t the chosen one.
Abraham’s first son was Ishmael, but he was of a human deal.
For Abraham’s other son Isaac, was the one God would pick.
And it was Isaac’s son Jacob, who was the one that God loved.
Jacob wrestled with God’s will, and his named became Israel.
And this is the name of the land, that God promised Abraham.
God said He’d bless each nation, through Abraham’s situation.
Then the Jews entered the land, under Joshua and God’s Hand.
But they would anger The Lord, when His decrees they ignored.
God for a time turned from them, with His Covenant for all men.
Israel’s been hardened for awhile, as God includes the Gentile.
The Jew and Gentile are now one, under the Blood of God’s Son.
And Israel will receive her land, under the rule of The Son of Man.
What Is A Jewish Poem?
WHAT IS A JEWISH POEM?
What is a Jewish poem?
‘Shema’ is a Jewish poem
Perhaps the Jewish poem-
'Shmoneh Esreh' is comprised of Jewish poems
Nineteen prayers as one-
Our history is filled with Jewish poems-
From the beginning with Abraham and Sarah
Those who have given so much beyond our understanding -
Jewish poems everywhere -
Is each Jewish life a poem and a story also?
Or is it only those who give something to our people and history
Who are worthy of Poetry?
I have known many Jewish poems
People the great world will not know the names of
People who whether they walked humbly or not
Made the lives of others better in some way –
Kindness is perhaps the ultimate Jewish poem
And Justice also-
And Jewish poems are not without their contradictions –
As I write this poem in Jerusalem in the land of Israel
I think of the small Jewish world of Troy New York where I came from so many years ago
And miss so many people no longer of that and this world –
Longing for Israel for two thousand years was the Jewish poem
Living here now is a blessing and a gift
I thank God for.
poem by Shalom Freedman
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Be Very Patient
Be very patient,
The potter's clay;
Be very wise,
The writer's pen;
Be very useful,
Of the muse of life with a living hope;
Let your yes be yes and your no be no.
Life is like the patience of Iyyob,
So abstain from fleshly lust;
Like the days of our visitations on this earth.
Sarah obeyed Abraham,
Like the sea and the seashore;
So established are the two witnesses.
Oh womb, womb, womb!
Oh bomb, bomb, bpomb! !
Oh tomb, tomb, tomb! ! !
Be very patient in this life.
Womb. bomb, tomb;
The womb is opened.
Womb, bomb, tomb;
The earth is defiled.
Womb, bomb, tomb;
The time of trouble on this earth with our muses.
Our bombs will shake the heavens,
And our sins will led us to our tombs;
As it is written in the Book Of Life like,
A child born today from the womb.
We came out of the womb and,
Many of us will be killed by the bombs! !
Which will finally send us into the tombs.
Read about the facts,
Learn about the truth,
Our days of darkness from the womb!
We came out of the womb and,
Are destroying the world with our bombs;
Soon, we will be buried in the tombs!
Womb, bomb, tomb;
Be very patient on this earth without hatred.
Lets be each others keeper,
Lets learn for the truth of all things;
Our days on this earth is still very short.
poem by Edward Kofi Louis
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Lonely Tombs
(e) I was strollin one day, in a lonely graveyard,
When a voice from the tomb, seemed to (b7) say,
I once (e) lived as you live, walked and talked as you talk,
But from earth I was (b7) soon called a- (e) way.
Chorus
(e) oh, those tombs, (oh those tombs),
Lonely tombs, (lonely tombs ),
Seemed to say in a low gentle (b7) tone,
Oh how (e) sweet, (oh how sweet),
Is the rest, (is the rest),
In our beautiful, (b7) heavenly (e) home.
Every voice from the tomb, seemed to whisper and say,
Livin man you must soon follow me,
And I thought as I gazed, on that cold marble slab,
What a sad lonesome place that must be.
Repeat chorus
I then came to the place, where my mother did lay,
And her voice, soft and low, from the tomb,
It said, son Im at rest, with the savior above,
I am safe in my heavenly home.
Repeat chorus
song performed by by Hank Williams
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Cool Tombs
When Abraham Lincoln was shoveled into the tombs he forgot
the copperheads and the assassin . . . in the dust, in the
cool tombs.
And Ulysses Grant lost all thought of con men and Wall Street,
cash and collateral turned ashes . . . in the dust, in the
cool tombs.
Pocahontas' body, lovely as a poplar, sweet as a red haw in
November or a pawpaw in May, did she wonder? does she
remember? . . . in the dust, in the cool tombs?
Take any streetful of people buying clothes and groceries,
cheering a hero or throwing confetti and blowing tin
horns . . . tell me if the lovers are losers . . . tell me if any
get more than the lovers . . . in the dust . . . in the cool
tombs.
poem by Carl Sandburg
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My wife who is non-Jewish regrets it all the time that I can say these terrible things about fellow Jews and she can't.
quote by Joseph Epstein
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Bible Stories: Esther (PartVII)
What Message Does The Story Convey?
God chooses Mordacai, an upright Jew,
Who brings up Esther, related by blood;
God gives a dream to Mordacai, one day,
Of things that happen later in his life!
The man gets chance to serve in King’s courtyard;
And saves the King from being killed by plot;
The King remembers what the man has done,
Rewarding him when opportune time comes!
God makes a Jewish girl of beauty rare,
The Queen and wife of Artaxerxes King,
Who rules a kingdom from Ind to Sudan,
And through her saves the entire Jewish race.
The wicked Haman gets punished by King;
Because his arrogance had gone too far;
God never spares an evil-hearted man,
Who schemes to destroy God’s beloved people.
The fervent prayers of the Jewish race
Evokes the sympathy and grace of God;
The Lord never abandons righteous souls;
The innocents are protected by Him!
God transforms rulers’ hearts to change for good;
Good Emperors are blessed by Providence;
The scattered Jews are ‘shepherded’ so well;
These are some points that Bible stories tell.
God has a special plan for everyone;
Our piety and fortitude will help;
No evil minds can destroy God’s people;
The wicked get punished even on earth.
Copyright by Dr John Celes 4-20-2007
poem by John Celes
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A Night At The Roman Gates
The third and the last fourth quarters, made no sound at all
The first and the fourth parts built up a sound upon an old wall
There were scaffolds of gold, traces of all riches beside the fallen towers
It’s the first night at the Roman gates: the last finders are counting the lost hours
The night swift as broken spears, the beats gather into one symphony of delight
Now God watches all this closely in silence and repose
With the Jews and Gentiles sharing a common space upon the history close
Silence prevails in cold shatter: the mood is lost through the art of these ciphers
The senators walk around in silence, building up tumults of joy to all the lifers
It’s a night at the Roman gates: the moon await in splendor and in vivified sight
History walks around tombs of ancient queens, paving words on golden wings
Still memory sweeps this silent night, and places owned before by ROMAN Kings
02-03 March 2008, a first to the collection: 'History Unbound'
poem by Sicelo Sithole
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Alexander Jannaios And Alexandra
Full of their success, thoroughly satisfied,
King Alexander Jannaios
and his wife Queen Alexandra
move through the streets of Jerusalem
with musicians in the lead
and every kind of pomp and circumstance.
The work begun by the great Judas Maccabaios
and his four celebrated brothers
has now been concluded brilliantly,
work relentlessly carried on
among so many obstacles and dangers.
Nothing unseemly remains now.
All subservience to the haughty monarchs
of Antioch is over. Clearly
King Alexander Jannaios
and his wife Queen Alexandra
are equal to the Selefkids in every way.
Good Jews, pure Jews, devoted Jews above all.
But, as circumstances require,
also skilled in speaking Greek,
even on familiar terms with Greeks and Hellenized monarchs—
as equals, though, let that be understood.
The work begun by the great Judas Maccabaios
and his four celebrated brothers
has indeed been concluded brilliantly,
concluded in the most striking way.
poem by Constantine P. Cavafy
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I found in one of the tombs an inscription saying, 'If you touch my tomb, you will be eaten by a crocodile and hippopotamus.' It doesn't mean the hippo will eat you, it means the person really wanted his tomb to be protected.
quote by Zahi Hawass
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Chanukah And Christmas
(footnote)
2100 years ago a band of Jews defeated the Greek army
And drove them off their land, reclaiming the holy temple
In Jerusalem and rededicating it to the service of god.
when they sought to light the temples menorah
They found only a single cruse of olive oil that
escaped contamination by the Greeks.
Miraculously the one day supply lasted eight days.
The sages instituted the festival of Chanukah
To publicize these miracles.
The Dreidel which is a four sided top with a
Hebrew letter on each side which means
“ a great miracle happened here”
was used later on in the years to give thanks to god
Without the enemy knowing that they were praying.
Chanukah, the Jewish festival of rededication, also known as the festival of lights, is an eight day festival beginning on the 25th day of the Jewish month of Kislev.
Chanukah is probably one of the best known Jewish holidays, not because of any great religious significance, but because of its proximity to Christmas. Many non-Jews (and even many assimilated Jews!) think of this holiday as the Jewish Christmas, adopting many of the Christmas customs, such as elaborate gift-giving and decoration. It is bitterly ironic that this holiday, which has its roots in a revolution against assimilation and suppression of Jewish religion, has become the most assimilated, secular holiday on our calendar.
Christmas and Chanukah are known world wide
But these two faiths do not collide.
They walk hand in hand
For they came out of the promised land.
You see: the son of god was born a Jew
The Romans felt this was taboo.
No other religion could exist
This was controlled by the Romans fist.
JESUS preached in synagogues throughout the lands
Something that the Romans did withstand.
His own people wanted his death
But little did they know
That with this- a new faith would grow.
The cross on which he died became a symbol
Of Christianity, and that’s the way
God meant it to be.
Chanukah is eight days of giving while the Christian
Holiday is just one day, but during these
holidays we all kneel and pray.
We give GOD thanks for all the beauties of the earth
And for family and friends, and it is something
That will never end.
As long as man holds a belief in their hearts
And faith, -then all will be overcome and
Let GODS will be done.
poem by Louis Rams
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My Days
My days are but the tombs of buried hours ;
Which tombs are hidden in the piled years ;
But from the mounds there spring up many flowers,
Whose beauty well repays their cost of tears.
Time, like a sexton, pileth mould on mould,
Minutes on minutes till the tombs are high ;
But from the dust there fall some grains of gold,
And the dead corpse leaves what will never die-
It may be but a thought, the nursling seed
Of many thoughts, of many a high desire ;
Some little act that stirs a noble deed,
Like breath rekindling a smouldering fire :
They only live who have not lived in vain,
For in their works their life returns again.
poem by Isaac Rosenberg
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I will announce some of the tombs I found next to the great pyramid of Khufu. One is an intact tomb that I have not opened yet.
quote by Zahi Hawass
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A Fat Calf
Sarah was Abraham's niece,
And Abraham was Sarah's uncle;
Like a thousand pieces of silver to buy your love;
But love is all that makes the world go round.
Wherethere are pick pockets,
You don't find me there;
Because my lips are with the law!
You've stolen my wife and you say it is okay,
But wait until the party is over;
There you will learn more from life itself.
Of a tender and a fat calf,
This world is made of Ishmayl and Isaac;
Like butter and milk to my taste but,
A brick is for stone and the bitmen is for mortar.
Life is like a ram caught in a thicket by its horns,
And war is like a golden ring weighing a beka;
So you will walk in the nakedness of the shame of your theft!
poem by Edward Kofi Louis
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Legumes
Sephardic Jews,
Ashkenazi Jews,
Legumes;
Of this Common Era to expose my love to you,
But the 'Jewish Book of Why' is all that you have.
poem by Edward Kofi Louis
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I don't really know of the Jewish tradition of comedy, only the Jewish tradition of not keeping your mouth shut. Complaining about all that is hard, unfair or ridiculous in life-having strong feelings, and not being able to suppress them. That, to me, is Jewish.
quote by Fred Melamed
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Whose Life is Worth More?
'Whose life is worth more? ' the SS officer asked.
Jacob Kogen did not answer.
In the eerie silence that ensued
the SS man drew his pistol.
'Tell me', he said, playing with the weapon,
'Whose life is worth more?
Yours? Your wife's? Your children's,
or the life of a stranger? '
'All human lives are equal', Kogen replied.
'You mean the life of a Jew and a non-Jew
has the same value? ' the SS officer asked.
'God created all human beings
equally entitled to their lives', Kogen said.
'In that case you will provide me 7,000 Jews',
the SS man said.
It was September 1,1942,
the third anniversary of the war's start,
the German attack on Poland
and Kogen was a member of the Jewish Council
in a Polish town.
He went home devastated.
He realized that The Nazis would take
the selected 7,000 people
outside the town in order to be shot.
'One shall not shed innocent blood
to save his own life', he told his wife.
And he added: 'A Jew Cannot decide
who will be taken for execution'.
Kogen and his family committed suicide.
poem by Paul Hartal
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Genesis Of Genocide
GENESIS OF GENOCIDE
Jewish history comes with homily,
the seder shared by all the family
the best example. When men talk about
the Holocaust the homilies they're taught
homogenize the fate that menaced us
the Jews, with that of gentiles. Genesis
of genocide is changed: the hermeneutic
of revision makes it therapeutic
for those who wish to drive Jews from their land.
"The Jews, " they say, "have like the Nazis sinned,
creating victims just as Nazis did,
replacing Hitler with the settlers' God, "
revisionists exclaiming "Out of order! "
when hearing at the end of every seder
the mantra, "Next year in Jerusalem! "
while they as chauvinists condemn
the Jews, in spite of their thousand years
of blood and sweat and toil, and lots of tears,
as then in Jewish wounds rub salt, declaring
that there were other holocausts, comparing
other genocidal horrors to
what happened to the Jews, a point of view
that totally distorts significance of what,
in Wannsee, Hitler's minions chose to plot,
reducing the Solution that was Final
to a competition's quarterfinal.
The greatest homily of Jewish history
is Jews' survival, a great mystery
which it's impossible to overhype,
based on the theme of their great anthem, hope.
The last part of this poem was inspired by an emotional outburst that I had after Gerald Duchovnay told Linda, Florence Zhou and me about how he teaches students in Texas about the Holocaust by using the Shoah to explain to them "the holocaust in Sudan."
Ed Rothstein ("Memories of Holocaust, Fortified, " NYT,4/22/11) writes from Skokie:
Before the $45 million Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center opened here two years ago, there was some urgency in completing its 65,000-square-foot building, which now stands so incongruously monumental in the midst of Chicago's suburban landscape. At one time,7,000 Jews bearing the scars of the Holocaust had lived in Skokie with their families, and they were aging. Many had contributed artifacts to the museum; some participated when it was just a storefront on Main Street; some had their oral histories recorded for its exhibition and their lives chronicled in the institution's imposing companion book, "Memory and Legacy."…..
If we want to find a lesson in the events, for example, is it that individuals should not be bystanders or that nations should not be appeasers? Is the lesson that everybody should have a social conscience, or that a different kind of political action is needed when such forces emerge? Was the Holocaust a product of intolerance or an expression of more specific archetypal hatreds?
One of the challenges faced by Holocaust museums as survivors die is to understand their experience by seeing it through more than their eyes, to examine the past without homogenizing it with platitudes, to offer history without homily.
This poem echoes one that I wrote on 2/17/09, inspired by a statement by the Lubavitcher Rebbe:
TOMORROW MORNING, EARLY
"Will there be another holocaust? "
they asked the Rebbe of Lubavitch.
For an answer he was never lost.
"Of course there will be. Man is savage."
"When will this happen? " they inquired.
"Morgen in der frih, " he said,
Tomorrow morning, early, has transpired,
and millions are already dead.
It's happened in Rwanda and Sudan,
as in silence we looked on.
It couldn't happen here, we say. It can,
and millions more will soon be gone.
Long ago an interviewer asked the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, if he believed the Holocaust could ever happen in America. "Morgen in der frih, " was his reply, Yiddish words that mean: "Early tomorrow morning."
11/6/12 #11803
poem by Gershon Hepner
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Bible in Poetry: Gospel of St. John (Chapter 11)
A man called Lazarus was ill,
Brother of Mary, Bethany;
This Mary had anointed Lord’s feet
By perfumed oil, dried by her hair!
So, Mary sent word to Jesus,
‘Master, the one you love is ill.’
(Meaning her brother Lazarus)
When Jesus heard, then He remarked,
‘This illness isn’t to end in death.
But for the glory of God’s works
And that the Son be glorified.’
Now Jesus loved Martha, Mary
And Lazarus who’d fallen ill;
He went to Judea later;
His disciples told Him, ‘Rabbi,
The Jews had wanted to stone you,
You want to go back to that place? ’
Then Jesus answered, ‘Are there not
Twelve hours by day for one to walk?
None stumble then for world has light.
But when he walks alone at night,
He stumbles as he has no sight!
Then Jesus said, ‘Friend Lazarus
Has gone asleep, let me wake him.’
They said, ‘If he sleeps, he’ll be saved! ’
But Jesus talked of deathly sleep,
While disciples, of slumber deep.
Jesus told, ‘Lazarus is dead! ’
Let’s go to him that you believe.
So, Thomas said, ‘Let’s die with him! ’
When Jesus reached Lazarus’ house,
He had died four days earlier.
Bethany lay two miles away!
Some Jews arrived to comfort them;
When Martha heard Jesus would come,
She went to meet; Mary sat home.
Then Martha told Him, ‘Lord, if you’d
Been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.’
‘But even now, I know whatev’r
You ask of God, He will give you.’
Jesus said, ‘Your brother will rise! ’
Martha replied, ‘Yes, Lord, I know,
He’ll resurrect on the last day.’
‘I am the resurrection, life! ’
Then Jesus said. ‘Whoev’r believes
In me, ev’n if he dies, will live!
And everyone who lives, believes
In me, will never die at all.
‘Do you believe this? ’ asked Jesus.
Then Martha replied, ‘Yes, my Lord.
I do believe you’re Son of God;
I know that you’re the Messiah,
The one who’s coming to the world!
She told her sister in secret,
‘The Teacher’s here and asks for you! ’
On hearing, Mary rose to greet.
But Jesus had not reached village.
When Mary saw Jesus, she fell
At his feet and said to Him, ‘Lord
If only you had been here then,
My brother would not be now dead.’
On seeing Mary and Jews weep,
Then Jesus perturbed, became sad.
He asked, ‘Where has he been entombed? ’
They said to Him, ‘Sir, come and see! ’
And Jesus wept while Jews all said,
‘Look, how He loved poor Lazarus! ’
But some remarked, ‘Could not the one
Who opened eyes of blind beggar,
Have done something to avoid death?
So, Jesus reached the place of tomb;
It was a cave with stone across;
Jesus said, ‘Take the stone away.
Then Martha said, ’Tis four days now,
Should there a stench be, all around? ’
Then Jesus asked, ‘Did I not tell
If you believe, God’s glory’s seen!
Then Jesus raised his eyes to Heav’n,
And said, ‘I thank you Father, God.
I know You always have heard me,
I said so, that they may believe.’
And having said this, Jesus cried,
‘Lazarus, Come out! ’ in voice loud.
The dead man came with hands, feet tied,
With burial bands and face cloth-wrapped.
So Jesus said, ‘Untie him soon! ’
Now many Jews who had come there,
Began to believe in Jesus.
But some went to the Pharisees,
And told them what he ‘ad done that day.
So, they convened the Sanhedrin,
And said, ‘What do we do hence-forth?
This man performs so many signs.’
If we leave Him alone for now,
All will believe in Him and Rome
Will take away, our nation whole.’
But one Caiaphas, high-priest that year
Remarked, ‘You know not anything,
Nor do you consider better
That one man dies, not more people
And whole nation may not perish,
And gather dispersed God’s children.’
They planned to kill Him, from that day!
So, Jesus didn’t walk in public,
And left for Ephraim, desert-town,
And there He stayed with disciples.
The Jewish Passover was near.
Many came to Jerusalem.
They looked for Jesus everywhere
And wondered if He will ev’r come.
For, Pharisees and chief priests all,
Had given orders to inform,
If they should come across Jesus,
So that, they could arrest Him soon.
Copyright by Dr John Celes 5-24-2007
poem by John Celes
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Jewish people have put the interests of race over the interests of the American people... Jews are filled with more hatred and rage for our race, for our heritage, for our blood than perhaps you can imagine.
quote by David Duke
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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