Every Human Face Is a Menorah

Two ears, two eyes, nose and mouth:
the seven gates
through which we perceive
the world

are also seven flames by which
we illuminate it,
like the seven-branched lamp
which stood in the Temple
until the Romans carried it away.

Like that ancient menorah, we burn
not only for each other,
but for God, who needs us

as much as we need
God, despite the occasional
miracle, like managing
to keep the Temple lamp lit
eight days — so that now we add
an extra candle, and visit
our children’s public school
classrooms to teach about our
traditions, as our mothers
once did for us, out of
pride but also to show
ourselves as simply human,
not to be feared or hated.

Now the nights grow longer
colder, and many of us are afraid.
The rabbis say, in a place where there is
no good person, be one.

I think they are talking directly
to us, saying: the darker it gets in this world,
the more we need to shine.

Alicia Jo Rabins is a writer, musician and Torah teacher. Her most recent book of poetry is “Fruit Geode.”