We must not drink or eat
Absolutely nothing to drink or eat, I repeat
Forget sex, there’s no holding hands
Even a peck on the cheek is banned
As for washing, bathing, or showering
Maybe a maybe, if one's odor is overpowering
All of this, and Yom Kippur is called a holiday
~ Easy to see why the whole day in synagogue we pray!
Here I stand, a godless monk
Without account, my soul is sunk.
My name won’t make the Book of Life
’Cause I’ve been such a cruel ex-wife.
I cursed you in a thousand ways
(There’s been no “high” in holidays.)
The one with whom anew you’d start:
I wished she’d crush your faithless heart.
I hoped in Leadville the spill you’d take
Would leave your back with chronic ache.
A gleeful anticipation would start to thrive
While imagining you cut a wire live.
So, here’s my prayer, albeit unholy:
I wish my thoughts were a bit less lowly.
If I can’t be good, at least I hope to find God
So I can achieve a peaceful facade.
Though rage may be slow to subside,
This year I hope to turn the tide.
While never shall I wish you well
Next year, no longer I’ll hope you in hell.
Yom Kippur is a Holy Day
where Jews wear wings of angels
Prayer shawls cov'ring cloaks of white
elevate Kol Nidre night
On this day we do not eat or drink
giving us more time to think
'bout how to make the world a better place
~ May acts of kindness hate displace
Today is the Jewish Day of Atonement,
A day to look deep into your thoughtful soul.
To make things right, with all you’ve wronged.
And stop, with your own, self-righteous songs.
To contact each person in fullest honesty!
Later in synagogue,honor in song, our beloved dead.
And of any harm you caused the living, make things right.
Yom Kippur begins ….as the golden sun sets tonight!
Last week we celebrated the first day of New Year, Rosh Hashanah,
The day that Adam was created, the very most mbeginning
Of all the most colorful, human race.
The Jewish New Year, with joyousness, I hope do partake.!
Am Yisrael Chai!
Panagiota Romios
10/1/2025
There once was a Rabbi lived in Big Sur
Who could drive a golf ball straight, far, and sure
When he got a hole-in-one
He sighed, “Why, this is no fun”
Who could he tell? ~ it was on Yom Kippur*
________________________________________
*Properly pronounced: Yome KiPOOR... Not a day
for playing golf, esp. if you are a Rabbi!!
His right foot, a clipper
His left arm, a ripper
Glad it wasn't Yom Kippur ~
Wouldn't dare try his whip on me
700 Jews dead on the latest Holy Day
50 years to the day since the Yom Kippur Fray
Hamas celebrations to be short-lived
as Israel now lowers the boom
Hamas' fighters and Palestinian pawns
left holding the broom --
by 'brave' Iran, which oils Hamas' terror machine
then slinks away, the Mullahs' skirts kept spotless clean
Not to mention Russia and Vladimir Putin
who coordinated and sanctioned all this
welcoming Iran & Hamas to the Kremlin
for a deal-sealing handshake and kiss*
Yes, the finger points directly at Mr. Putin, and rightly so
~ as all but US 'intelligence' and President Joe already know
_________________________________________________
*Exhibit 'A:' Not one American news source reported Hamas'
recent meeting with Mr. Putin in the Kremlin. Not one...
perhaps because Russia has been controlling the Middle East
ever since Mr. Obama 'reset' America's foreign policy in 2009,
unraveling the strong US influence in the M-E, maintained for
49 years, from Nixon's Presidency through that of Bush Jr.
Fifty years ago today
an attack was well underway
On Yom Kippur, October 6
Israel was in a fix
Egypt had invaded the Sinai
Syrians climbed down the Golan Heights
Arabs sought to recapture land
which they regarded as theirs 'by rights'
Three weeks later, Israel was up off her heels
at the gates of Cairo and Damascus
troops ready to seal the deal
But the US said No! Israel had to go
back to the preexisting status quo
2,400 died in defense of their nation
as Israel began to grow impatient
with their supposed Allies in the West
When on your holiest day, your enemies attack
Why should you give what you captured back
______________________________________
The 2,412 soldiers who died comprised 1% of
Israel's Jewish population in 1973. A comparable
figure would be 300,000 American soldiers dying
in a four-week war in 1973.
Another war, another truce
Israel leaves so many ends loose, and yet
Dozens die, so Thousands may live
The horrific result full-scale war might give
The Jewish State pulled out of Gaza in 2006
As thanks, it's had aught but terror attacks since
Yet, retaking Gaza with a punishing all-out assault
Of that, Israel is not (at all) convinced ...
What's the best way to handle this stubborn impasse
Time has a way of coming to the rescue --
Look! Egyptian and Israeli soldiers ~ friends at long last*
________________________________________________
*Nearly fifty years after the deadly Yom Kippur War of 1973,
Egyptian and Israeli soldiers, once the bitterest of enemies,
embraced publicly, openly weeping in each other's arms, at
a 'joint ceremony' at Ben Gurion Airport in 2022.
I’m sorry, honey.
O.K. I accept your apology.
No, wait. Hold on.
What is it?
I mean it. I'm really sorry.
Are you?
Yes, I am.
How would I know?
I’ve thought about what I’ve done.
That’s it?
And I’m never going to do it again
Even if you find yourself in the same situation?
Yes, even then. … I'm determined to overcome my baser instincts!
Even if there's no one there to catch you transgressing?
Yes. Even if I'm by myself.
Then you really are sorry.
And ashamed of myself, before God, for letting you down, honey.
Thank you. I accept your apology now whole-heartedly.
Let's go to synagogue now. Let us praise God and ask for His forgiveness, that we may atone for all of our sins...
In Jerusalem's Holy Temple
the High Priest entered
the Holy-of-Holies once a year
on that Holiest of Days, Yom Kippur
From the top of his exotic, oriental turban
dressed for the occasion was he
Dazzling gems on a breastplate of gold
bells ringing from his cloak for you and me...
...to know when he'd entered to beseech of the Lord
forgiveness and pardon for every Jew's sins
Uttering the Name of the Ineffable One ~
a most solemn proposition
And though dressed for the occasion was he
how humbling to stand, as if naked, in front of God Who
had custom-stitched every inch of his garments ~
commanded him on Yom Kippur what he should do
In Hebrew, “erev,” (evening)
Means the ending and the start,
Both happening together,
Nothing setting them apart.
For at sundown, daytime’s over
But all holidays begin,
As most Jewish people celebrate;
That’s how it’s always been.
So the night that comes before,
We say it’s “Erev” with the name
Of the day upon the calendar
The ancients did proclaim.
Tonight’s Erev Yom Kippur,
The most holy day of all,
Which will be observed tomorrow
‘Til we hear the shofar’s* call.
*a ram’s horn blown during services
{Hey, Where'd My Audience Go?}
Broke, Julie became a sexy stripper
Soon her bank account was pretty chipper
Her boyfriend treated her well
Then they moved to Israel
Julie's first performance was Yom Kippur
__________________________________
Note: Yom Kippur is the Holiest Day of the
Jewish year. Over 90% of Israelis are in
synagogue and fasting on Yom Kippur
night and day.
Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur
Day of Judgment, Day of Atonement
Weeping openly in synagogue
Praying for our very lives
As if our hair were on fire...
Sukkoth, Festival of Tabernacles
Celebrating the Harvest
The Spiritual and Agricultural
Offerings brought for each
Nation of the World
One festival left now
No more weeping
Only one offering
To Him, the King of Kings
Celebrating Him and
the Torah He gave us
Dancing with pure Joy
on Simchas Torah
Hallelujah!
_________________________
Shemini Atzeres/Simchas Torah
begins at sundown this evening
SHADOWS ARE ME
I am there, but I am not.
I seem to be, but how could I?
I am my pain, which can’t be seen.
A shadow of yesterday, smoke in your eye.
My words are the wind.
My wishes but a one-liner.
Can I really walk through walls?
Unseen, unheard, totally unascertained?
And this is not a lament.
For I wish not be seen.
Or heard, or felt, or regarded.
It is okay to be a shadow, a sheen on a screen.
An expanse full of souls.
A blank soul without contour.
Words that cannot be discerned.
A presence, that by essence, needs a Yom Kippur.
But there is no atonement.
No redemption for my being.
Just remain an opaque shadow.
I tell my soul: you are not what they are seeing.
You are already an adumbration.
No need to find a corner to hide.
You already lack attention, admiration.
No need to hide or be stealthy soul of mine.
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