fbpx

The Tacos of Memory – A poem for Parsha Vayera

Nation Shall Not…But They Still Do - A poem for Parsha Lech Lecha
[additional-authors]
October 21, 2021
Katya_Havok/Getty Images

And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. ~ Genesis 21:4

I like to follow instructions so, like Abraham,
eight days after my son was born, he experienced
the enschnippening of our people.

Many people came to witness it
to sing songs while it was happening
to observe our observance of the covenant.

We served tea.

Thirteen years later, and just two days ago
(as of this writing) my son became a man
in the eyes of everyone who’s ever

been enschnipped (and their wives) in front of
an enthusiastic crowd of familiar people
who sang along and wept along.

We served sandwiches.

Later that evening a similar set of people
gathered under three stars and sang about
how the week was moving from holy to mundane

and how everything from the next moments
was going to be different from all the moments
that came before – A separation.

We served tacos.

Tacos that stained the concrete under which
they were served. A stain which will serve
as a new kind of reminder of that day

for years to come.

We are a people who strive to remember.
With candles and cuts. With wine and scents.
With food, always with food.

Ever since Abraham did what he was told
We do what we were told in this
chain that never ends.


God Wrestler: a poem for every Torah Portion by Rick LupertLos Angeles poet Rick Lupert created the Poetry Super Highway (an online publication and resource for poets), and hosted the Cobalt Cafe weekly poetry reading for almost 21 years. He’s authored 25 collections of poetry, including “God Wrestler: A Poem for Every Torah Portion“, “I’m a Jew, Are You” (Jewish themed poems) and “Feeding Holy Cats” (Poetry written while a staff member on the first Birthright Israel trip), and most recently “The Tokyo-Van Nuys Express” (Poems written in Japan – Ain’t Got No Press, August 2020) and edited the anthologies “Ekphrastia Gone Wild”, “A Poet’s Haggadah”, and “The Night Goes on All Night.” He writes the daily web comic “Cat and Banana” with fellow Los Angeles poet Brendan Constantine. He’s widely published and reads his poetry wherever they let him.

Did you enjoy this article?
You'll love our roundtable.

Editor's Picks

Latest Articles

Losing One’s True North

Normally we say goodbye to our loved ones, as they fly back to their normal lives, but what is normal about the lives they fly back to at this moment in time?

Peter Beinart’s Rapture

Instead of correcting some of the hyperbolic anti-Israel “reporting” that has so blurred people’s capacity to know what is going on, he pours fuel on the flames of ignorance and perpetuates a rhetoric that lays blame for the whole conflict primarily or solely on Israel.

More news and opinions than at a
Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.