One Thing I Ask

A newish Jewish poem

I read this poem last night during Neilah, the closing service of Yom Kippur:

One thing I ask of HaShem*
is patience,
for I am a slow and sometimes
stubborn learner.

One thing I ask of HaShem –
I plead, I walk on the gravel road
looking up at the billowy clouds
and I pray – is presence.
I ask HaShem, are you there
and wait for an answer.

I hear HaShem:
Of course I am here.
I am never not here.
I am that I am.
I am the sky above you,
the three deer leaping
through the dewy field.

I am with you
at 4:00am when you lie awake
frightened and full of questions.

I am the hand on your belly,
the hand on your heart.
I am the hawk,
the warning, the battle cry
and the bandage
over the wound.

One thing I ask of you,
HaShem says in return
to my requests,
is faith.

You do not have to look so hard.
You do not have to strain your ears
or perfect your heart.

You do not have to earn
my protection.
When you repent,
I believe you
When you repair,
I heal, too.

One thing HaShem and I ask
of each other
is commitment.
It is not a given –
and so all the more sacred
when we give it.

*HaShem is one of Judaism’s many names for God. It literally means “The Name” in Hebrew.

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