Friday Dispatch: How Human, How Divine

A poem for Yom Kippur

Friday greetings,

This week was like an apple with a name you’ve never heard before and a flavor profile you can’t quite describe, with sweetness too precious and private to share and bitterness I don’t want to air or amplify – at least not today. Instead, I offer one of the new poems I’ll be reading during the Kol Nidre service tonight as Yom Kippur begins.

How human of me
How divine

How imperfectly
I met the chaos

How painstakingly
I stumbled
through the darkness

How human of you
How divine

How haltingly
you did your best

How protectively
you turned away

How human of us
How divine

How quickly
we gave up
on each other

How humbly
we returned
and listened

How vulnerably
we shared
our truths

How bravely
we showed up
and kept going 

For all who fast, may you have a meaningful fast. May we be inscribed for another year b’Sefer Chaim – in the Book of Life. May we honor our very human capacities while drawing on our divine creativity. May we strive to bring our best selves to our days and forgive ourselves and each other when we inevitably stumble. And may we remember our own wholeness even as we know we are but a part of something more.

Shabbat Shalom and love,

Jena

---