To God above
I want to smell
Jasmine and fir trees
In my garden
I want to smell the forests and fountains of the north
The honeysuckle in our backyard
I want to feel
The Jerusalem winter chill
The cool stones of the Kotel
The gentle summer breeze when I sit beneath our pergola
On Shabbat
And the hot summer wind of the Negev
I want to feel
The soft and hard earth
Beneath my feet
As I wander
Through our wildflowers
I want to hear
The sound of children running up the pathway
Leading to our home, shouting
“Savta!”
I want to hear
The sound of the basketball pounding our neighbor’s patio
And the yelp of their sons when they make a basket
Before they return to school
And to the army
I want to hear the sound of planes overhead
Protecting us
I want to see
Smiles, not stress, on faces in the street
Purple-red sunsets and snow
From our bay window,
Overlooking the hills
Of Gush Etzion
And after a drought
Rainbows
That we prayed for
A sign of rain and that God
Will not destroy the world again
At least not that way
Though there are many kinds
Of floods
I want to see
Dew
I want to taste
The vegetable soup of my husband
A liberator of Jerusalem
Whose parents hid underground in Europe
The Moroccan fish of my son-in-law
Whose father wore a yellow star
at the age of seven in Tunisia
Blueberries from the Golan Heights
On the Syrian border
Cookies baked with love by my granddaughters
studying to be nurses
Spicy BBQ meat with my old friends, who made aliyah
And who meet
Every Yom HaAtzmaut
I want to taste
The salt on my lips from the sea at the edge
Of Caesarea
I want to hear, once again, the ocean waves
Behind our daughter’s chuppah
In Gush Katif
So many desires.
I want
A peaceful
Joyful
Tearless
Fearless
Land of Israel.
February, 2025
From the book “Az Nashir, Women’s Prayers for Israel’s Days of Remembrance & Celebration” https://www.shvillicenter.org/az-nashir-we-will-sing-again
Toby Klein Greenwald is an award-winning journalist and theater director, and the editor-in-chief of WholeFamily.com.
