This piece is part of our Wit­ness­ing series, which shares pieces from Israeli authors and authors in Israel, as well as the expe­ri­ences of Jew­ish writ­ers around the globe in the after­math of Octo­ber 7th.

It is crit­i­cal to under­stand his­to­ry not just through the books that will be writ­ten lat­er, but also through the first-hand tes­ti­monies and real-time account­ing of events as they occur. At Jew­ish Book Coun­cil, we under­stand the val­ue of these writ­ten tes­ti­mo­ni­als and of shar­ing these indi­vid­ual expe­ri­ences. It’s more impor­tant now than ever to give space to these voic­es and narratives.

In col­lab­o­ra­tion with the Jew­ish Book Coun­cil, JBI is record­ing these pieces to increase the acces­si­bil­i­ty of these accounts for indi­vid­u­als who are blind, have low vision or are print disabled. 

Help Me Remem­ber, Hafiz, When All I Can See Is Nir Oz
 

—after Sacred Dance for Life”


How do I stop my heart from chok­ing on stone?


I want to smile, to lift and be lift­ed. Yes—

even to dance. But how


to untan­gle my feet, dear Hafiz? How

to unsnarl my arms so I may reach God?


Oh, Sacred Dance for Life,

you’ve come to me when I need you


most. My fin­gers scroll,

my grief swells. I am not


alone in forgetting

we were cre­at­ed for joy. Please,


oh poem, oh poet!

Tell me. How


to unsee


this once child’s sheet, tucked

neat­ly around four corners?


The views and opin­ions expressed above are those of the author, based on their obser­va­tions and experiences.

Sup­port the work of Jew­ish Book Coun­cil and become a mem­ber today.

Diane Got­tlieb is the edi­tor of Awak­en­ings: Sto­ries of Body & Con­scious­ness, the forth­com­ing Man­na Songs: Sto­ries of Jew­ish Cul­ture & Her­itage and the Prose/​Creative Non­fic­tion Edi­tor of Emerge Lit­er­ary Jour­nal. Her writ­ing appears in Brevi­ty, Riv­er Teeth, Wit­ness, Flori­da Review, The Rum­pus, Huff­in­g­ton Post, among many oth­er love­ly places.