<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""> Breathing in and breathing out: a Rosh Hashanah poem for the new year </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;" class=""> <br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Last year we grieved the loss of the many who died lonely</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">deaths, we were too often adrift in harrowing dreams, and</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">the simple act of living itself was wrapped inside a suffocating</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">membrane that left us short of breath. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;" class=""> <br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">This year, the groundhog prognosticated a more hopeful spring.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Teasing us with signs of new life, maybe even daring adventures. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">This year, we who endured the stark loneliness of the last year </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">started to encounter moments where puffy white clouds were</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">spotted lounging carelessly over communal gatherings and rituals. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">These moments took our breath away! (in a good way).</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">We gazed into longing eyes of friends who we’ve missed, touched</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">cheeks we may have never dared to caress, and began singing and</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">praying in unison, unfettered by Zoom screens. At times, this year, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">the mellifluous bass, the oud, the drum, and the swaying of enlivened</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">bodies once again nudged us a bit closer to eternity, invited us to</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">dance and celebrate as we eagerly began to renew our paradoxical</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">communion with both joy and grief, the omnipresent twins ever</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">leap frogging across the millennia. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">This new year carries the reminder, in case we’ve forgotten, that</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">rebirth always follows death, and yes, during this last year, *Hashem</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">was really rubbin’ it in, but remember, at the end of every pause lies</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">a breathing out, eagerly inviting the next remarkable breathing in.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">(But here it is September)</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">And now the caveat: yes, last year taught us more about fear</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">and isolation than we ever cared to know, and the great breathing </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">of which we speak is now a labored task, fettered by red smoke, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">tired masks, and downtrodden eyes, but clearly, this year brings</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">humankind the knowledge, inside our bones and sinew, that life on</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">planet earth always was, now is, and ever will be a perilous daily</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">dance with a great goddess who we’ve tended to ignore.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Her name is “uncertainty.”</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Bruce Silverman</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Calibri; min-height: 17px;" class=""><b class=""></b><br class=""></div>
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<li style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10.5px; line-height: normal; font-family: Calibri;" class=""><span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Symbol;" class=""></span><b class="">Hashem means ‘the vibration’ pointing to the great nameless source</b></li>
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