Linking Jews to Muslims like the pork forbidden
to both, is the strange fact that calendars of both begin
with an exodus, to be of an oppression ridden,
the rationale of starting dates connecting Abraham’s contrasting kin.
Israel’s first month recalls an exodus that was Israelite,
just as the Muslim calendar starts with the hegira,
when Muhammad escaped from the might
of Mecca, of which he first was less an admirer.
He fled to Medina; in Mecca, so we’re told, not treated right,
as Hagar was not, by her aged mistress abused.
Abuse by Sarah forced Hagar to escape
from Abram’s house in Canaan, which cannot now be excused
by lack of evidence such as a videotape.
The Torah’s language links Israel in Egypt to Hagar’s oppression,
Hagar oppressed, like Israelite slaves when Sarah oppressed her…
not only slavery Hagar’s profession,
but sexual servitude, like for King Ahasuerus in his harem… Esther.
Perhaps with some originality this poem states
that calendars of both Jews and Muslims are both based
on the release from oppression by the founders of their fates
which founders of their nations historically faced.
Gershon Hepner is a poet who has written over 25,000 poems on subjects ranging from music to literature, politics to Torah. He grew up in England and moved to Los Angeles in 1976. Using his varied interests and experiences, he has authored dozens of papers in medical and academic journals, and authored “Legal Friction: Law, Narrative, and Identity Politics in Biblical Israel.” He can be reached at gershonhepner@gmail.com.
