<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;">Mazel Tov<div><br></div><div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); color: rgb(52, 52, 52);"><span class="“long-line”" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Circular breather, our dog can whine </span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">without ceasing, his tail thumping the wall </span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">beside the bed to call me up and out to the yard </span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">instead. In moonlight, the hydrangeas’ </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); color: rgb(52, 52, 52);"><span class="“long-line”" style="box-sizing: border-box;">white blossoms are a zodiac of branch-bound </span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">constellations. Once, God called Abraham </span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">out from his tent to the open field to count </span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">the uncountable lights in the sky, promising </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); color: rgb(52, 52, 52);"><span class="“long-line”" style="box-sizing: border-box;">offspring bountiful as dust, numerous </span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">as the stars. Like Abraham, I too left </span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">my land, my birthplace, my father’s house. </span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">But the closest I have to offspring </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); color: rgb(52, 52, 52);"><span class="“long-line”" style="box-sizing: border-box;">is lifting his leg at the azalea, nose busy</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">with the news the night air brings. </span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Mazel tov</em>! we say at births and other </span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">joyous occasions, the Jewish go-to </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); color: rgb(52, 52, 52);"><span class="“long-line”" style="box-sizing: border-box;">for <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Congratulations!</em> Yet טוֹב tov means “good”</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">and מַזָּל <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">mazel</em>, “constellation” or “destiny,” </span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">and sometimes, like Abraham, you must </span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">leave the place that grew you to grow </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); color: rgb(52, 52, 52);"><span class="“long-line”" style="box-sizing: border-box;">toward better stars. In the house, my wife </span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">is sleeping. Along the fence-top, a procession</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">of possums reminds that even in darkness </span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">there are those who can see. Above, </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); color: rgb(52, 52, 52);"><span class="“long-line”" style="box-sizing: border-box;">trees, thick with summer, frame a porthole</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">of sky. Maybe, though, it’s not always the stars </span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">that matter but the space between them, </span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">the lines we draw to shape the absence, </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); color: rgb(52, 52, 52);"><span class="“long-line”" style="box-sizing: border-box;">the lives we forge around what goes missing.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">From the deck, the cool breeze makes a festival </span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">of the silver-lit leaves. Under my palm, </span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">there’s the warmth of his fur, the rise </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); color: rgb(52, 52, 52);"><span class="“long-line”" style="box-sizing: border-box;">of his ribs. He doesn’t suspect his kidneys </span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">are failing, that his muzzle is white </span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">as the winter our vet has said he will </span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">not live to see. Like all of us, he is</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); color: rgb(52, 52, 52);"><span class="“long-line”" style="box-sizing: border-box;">dying; like most of us, he doesn’t </span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">know it. His chin on my leg, he trusts me </span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">with the weight of his head. So, if I wish </span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">you, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">mazel tov</em>, know what I mean is, </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); color: rgb(52, 52, 52);"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="“long-line”" style="box-sizing: border-box;">May you find a reason to open </span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">your door to the dark. I’ll mean, </span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">May you live beneath good stars, </span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">and take the time to notice.</span></em></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); color: rgb(52, 52, 52);"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;"><br></span></em></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); color: rgb(52, 52, 52);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-style: italic; white-space: pre;"> </span>- Jessica Jacobs</span></span></p></div></div></body></html>