Tag: Shabbat

Twitter poetry 2021: Week 18

ben Alexander12 Comments

My blogger-poet-friend Ingrid inspired me to create a Twitter account and start writing #APoemADay, which I began on January 1, 2021.

I’ve come to belated realize that my Twitter poetry goal inherently requires me to write more poetry than I would otherwise attempt to produce. And it’s not simply that I’m striving to write at least one poem daily…

It’s also that Twitter poetry is short by nature, and I like to play with longer forms of poetry too, meaning that I cannot crosspost these longer poems of mine to my Twitter account. So, on any given day, if I take the time to craft a long poem, I will still have to create an additional shorter poem for Twitter.

When I first began this poetic odyssey, I certainly did not think it would be so intensive.

Anyway, below is my 18th week of Twitter poems:

Shabbat Shalom from Jerusalem,
David

The Sabbath, or: Shabbat

ben Alexander42 Comments

A palinode to: ‘Shabbat, or: The Sabbath’

Fuck that noise;
Sabbath law annoys
girls and boys
who want toys;
They're denied their simple joys;
Onus ~ faith destroys

d’Verse prompt:

Write a palinode

A palinode or palinody is an ode or song that retracts or recants a view or sentiment to what the poet wrote in a previous poem.

The d’Verse writing challenge is to write a palinode. This can be in relation to a poem you have written before (please link or include prior poem), or as part of poem.

The poem of mine to which I wrote this palinode is called: ‘Shabbat, or: The Sabbath’

Shabbat, or: The Sabbath

A shadorma

She draws me;
Jews' age-old decree;
Through her we
are set free
for our holy day weekly ~
we simply can be

I don’t blog on Shabbas (the Sabbath)

According to most traditional interpretations of Jewish religious law, Jews are forbidden from using electronic devices (such as computers, cell phones, etc.) on the Sabbath. This has its benefits and its drawbacks.

You can read more on this here: I don’t blog on Shabbas (the Sabbath)

P.S.

Shadorma poems need not rhyme.

Twitter poetry 2021: Week 17

ben Alexander18 Comments

My blogger-poet-friend Ingrid inspired me to create a Twitter account and start writing #APoemADay, which I began on January 1, 2021.

As time goes by, I am increasingly feeling that writing poetry defines me. I honestly can’t imagine how I’ll feel by the end of this year if I continue to stick to this commitment. It will be pretty awesome to look by at all of my poems come December 31st!

BTW, today marks the 1st anniversary of my 1st blog post here on the ‘Skeptic’s Kaddish’. Time flies when you’re having fun 🥳

Below is my 17th week of Twitter poems:

Shabbat Shalom from Jerusalem,
David

Twitter poetry 2021: Week 16

ben Alexander9 Comments

My blogger-poet-friend Ingrid inspired me to create a Twitter account and start writing #APoemADay, which I began on January 1, 2021.

In retrospect, I would say that this idea of writing daily poetry on my Twitter account, which did not take long to merge into the stream of poetry that I produce on this blog, was directly responsible for my increased output.

Perhaps that seems obvious to you, but when I took this challenge upon myself, I thought, “How hard could this be? I can write one haiku daily – no big deal!” However, in truth, even poems of very few words take me a while to write; and -also- writing poetry seems to have a snowballing effect on me.

The more I write, the more I am driven to write. It is (and maybe I am) a bit crazy.

Below is my 16th week of Twitter poems:

Shabbat Shalom from Jerusalem,
David

The old rabbi, or: The apikoros

ben Alexander35 Comments

A dorky Jewish limerick

When an apikoros broke Shabbat,
The old rabbi just sighed, "Oy, mein Gott!
If you think it's alright
To switch on the light...
Well... it would seem I forgot the crock-pot!"

A quick explanation

There are many religious restrictions associated with Shabbat (the Sabbath) in traditional Judaism, including not using electricity and not cooking on Shabbat. The phrase “breaking Shabbat” means desecrating Shabbat by breaking any of these many restrictions.

An apikoros is a Jew who informedly rejects the tenets of traditional Jewish faith and probably does not live according to the tradition. An apikoros would have no problem “breaking Shabbat” by flipping a light switch on or cooking on the Sabbath.

A traditional stew called “cholent” is often served on Saturdays. The idea behind this dish is that it must be prepared before Shabbat and put in a crock-pot on low heat to finish cooking overnight on Friday (during Shabbat). By the time Saturday (still Shabbat) rolls around, the cholent is thoroughly cooked – ready to be eaten for Shabbat lunch!

The humor in this limerick is that the old rabbi is not only prohibited from cooking on Shabbat himself – he is also forbidden from benefitting from another Jew’s desecration of the Sabbath. Technically, if the apikoros cooks food on Shabbat, and if the rabbi knows of this, the rabbi cannot eat that food. And, as you may have guessed already, suggesting that another Jewish person desecrate the Sabbath is also religiously verboten.

In this limerick, the old rabbi is knowingly suggesting that the apikoros turn on the crock-pot with the cholent inside, thereby both cooking food and actively making use of an electrical device on the Sabbath. Seems that this old rabbi is a bit of an apikoros himself!

P.S.

Some say that the word “cholent” may have come from the French “chaud” (hot) and “lent” (slow).