The reason the Jews blow the shofar
on Rosh Hashanah is to scare away
the devil, Father said. He doesn’t come back
until after Yom Kippur, which gives
the Jews a chance to cast away their sins.
If the devil was around during Yom Kippur,
he would catch our sins, and throw them
right back in our faces. Imagine getting hit
in the chin by the vanilla ice cream we swore
we didn’t eat. If there’s one thing every Jew
knows, it’s just because the devil is sinful,
doesn’t mean he has bad aim.
Hal Sirowitz is the author of five books of poetry: “Mother Said,” “My Therapist Said,” “Before, During & After,” “Father Said” and “Stray Cat Blues.” His work has been translated into 13 languages and has been on NPR’s “All Things Considered” and PBS’ “The United States of Poetry.” Garrison Keillor has read many of Sirowitz’s poems on NPR’s “The Writer’s Almanac.”
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