Rubber, or: Glue

Some people don't like the word Jew 
A label that fits me like comfy shoe 
Jews were murdered and made into glue 
Regarded as less than beasts at a zoo 
Blamed for both the plague and the flu 
In the end, though, it's the haters who stew 

Jewish cholent is a magical stew
If you'd like some, just befriend a Jew 
It can cure both COVID and the flu
And when it spills, it won't stain your shoe
Come, let's pack some for a trip to the zoo
Food and family bind us like glue

From true history we cannot unglue
All began with primordial stew
We all got here by way of the zoo
European; African; Jew
Mortality fits us all like a shoe
And we die of the very same flus

There are always new strains of the flu
Viruses to human cell membranes glue
Vaccines help but cannot fully shoe
We are but chunks of meat in this stew
Asian; South American; Jew
Are we destined to live as if in a zoo?

It takes a great deal to get me zooed
I don't suffer much from brown bottle flu
My friends joke that I'm a Russian Jew
I reply that I'm rubber, they're glue
And we laugh over hearty Jew stew
The secret ingredient's sole of shoe

In the heat, men buzzing flies shoo
But not so those beasts at the zoo
Nor are they wont to sit and stew
Every species has its own flu 
DNA is a powerful glue 
Oceanian; North American; Jew 

Some racists claim diplomatic flu
When accused, they stand as if glued
Much abashed by this very proud Jew

61 thoughts on “Rubber, or: Glue”

1. 😂 David, in spite of the sinister stuff this poem has the balls to deal with, your fun-ness and skill somehow manages to make me laugh in a joyful way. Love. xoxoxo

   1. Sometimes, we can but laugh, Lia ❤

      1. I agree David. It’s either that, or cry, some days 😭❤️🌻

2. Love this piece! The rhyme makes the anti-Semitic sentiments more chilling and the humor more effective.

   1. Awwww, thanks so much, JYP! ❤

3. As several have noted, you have a great ability to treat serious issues with humor. It’s a good approach to life. We all have the same origin and ending…dust to dust. Why make the between so fraught and difficult? (K)

   1. Thanks so much, Kerfe. Why indeed? I wish I knew.

      ❤
      David

4. 🤍😊

   1. ❤

5. Wow David… Love your take off on the prompt hutzpah here David❣️
   Bravo to you. 👏👏👏👏💖

   1. Thanks so much, Cindy 😀

      There wasn’t a prompt, per se… just a concept that I had in my head, but I’m happy with the result!

      Much love,
      David

      1. You’re welcome!
         Got it and I did love it!
         💖💖 love back at you!💖

6. David, ‘we all got here by way of the zoo’? Do you believe in it?
   Excellent poem, though.
   Much love,
   D

   1. Dolly, yes, to the extent that I “believe” in anything, I believe that evolution is the most probable process by which homo sapiens came to exist.

      ❤
      David

      1. What about Creator and His creations? Which begs the most important question: your Emuna, i.e. believing in Torah given to Moshe Rabbeinu b’Har Sinai.

         1. Broadly speaking, I think it’s our Jewish myth, just as all cultures have their myths. There may have been some basis to it, but I doubt that it happened just as told in the Torah.

            Last year, I joined some discussion forums that encourage debate and discussion between people who are OTD and people who are believers in mainstream Jewish doctrine, and I find the comments of the OTD people to be much more relatable to me.

            BTW, I don’t fit either category – I don’t have much faith in anything supernatural, but I’m also not OTD – if anything, I’m more “on” TD than anybody on either side of my family.

            ❤
            David

            1. David,
               first of all, what is OTD?
               Secondly, I’ve been forgetting to ask you, have you read anything by Aryeh Kaplan?
               Air hugs,
               D

            2. OTD = Off the derekh, Dolly.

               Yes, years ago, I owned and read his entire collection, Dolly. Back when I was in college – ~20 years ago.

               ❤
               David

            3. Thank you.
               Perhaps it might be worth your while to re-read? Just a gentle suggestion.
               I grew up with an unshakeable belief that Torah Emet, and anything that is not Torah cannot be true. That does not mean that every word of it must be taken literally, of course, yet we are not qualified to separate the literal from the metaphorical or from ‘the Bible Code,” as it is called nowadays. I believe with all my heart (‘Ani Maamin b’kol Nafshecha u’v’kol Levavecha) in the coming of Mashiach, at which time everything hidden will be revealed.
               Love,
               D
               P.S. We used to sing Ani Maamin b’Emuna Sheleima at the train stations when our friends were leaving…

            4. I’m a non-believer, Dolly, and I’ve been around the believing block for years. I’ve learned to be comfortable in my own skin, for the most part, although I do envy believers because of the comfort that belief provides them.

               I’m glad that there are people like you in this world, but I do not want to be one – it feels unnatural and untrue to myself. I used to wish that I could and aspired to believe. I once convinced myself (for years) that I did believe. Ultimately, that wasn’t really true.

               Every religion claims to be the “Truth”. I reject all such claims from all such sources. Being born a Jew doesn’t affect my perspective… although I have a soft spot in my heart for our people’s stories and values.

               You have a lovely soul. Thank you for sharing of yourself.

               ❤
               David

            5. Dear David, I don’t believe that one could aspire or be convinced to believe. I do not aspire to convince you to share my belief, other than to remind you that we are ‘believers, sons of believers’ although some of us are daughters), regardless of what any individual Jew thinks or believes.
               Again, I believe that when Mashiach comes, everything will be sorted out, so I personally have no issue with anyone, especially a sincere person like yourself.
               Love,
               D

            6. Dolly, if Mashiach comes, I will be happy to welcome him.

               С любовью,
               Давид

            7. Are you sure it will be a He, David?
               Just kidding, of course. He is a Son of David, not a Daughter.
               I am not a what they call ‘mashihist’ in any way, but I do believe in ‘when,’ rather than ‘if.’ Then I’ll make gefilte fish of Leviathan. Wait till you see my Shavuot recipes – there is a fish almost the size of Leviathan!
               Much love,
               D

7. not an easy one to ‘like’ – what skill tho

   1. 💓 Barbara 💓