This piece is part of an ongoing series that we are sharing from Israeli authors and authors in Israel.
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 writers’ first-hand accounts, as shared with and published by JBC, to increase the accessibility of these accounts for individuals who are blind, have low vision or are print disabled.
To sleep to forget. Then the daylight awakens us, a reminder of the darkness. Perhaps it is all a dream. Soon there will be a flood. Then what. Will the dove put its trust in us once again?
Why did you choose us? We hear you calling our name but we can’t hear what you are saying.
Maybe we are sleeping.
***
Can you see her?
she’s waving her hands.
Can you hear her?
She’s shouting: “Look at me,
I was once beautiful,
my heart a glass vase
filled with promises”.
Can you hear it?
Wrestling with time.
Negotiating with God.
Can you see me?
Waving My flag
once white
and now stained
once again
with “Never Again”.
The views and opinions expressed above are those of the author, based on their observations and experiences.
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Tamarah Touvian was born in the US and raised in Israel where she completed her studies in Education and bible studies. She has been teaching Bible, Jewish studies, Hebrew language and literature, and aspects of Israeli culture and society since 1995 to present.Tamarah returned to the US in 2005 and currently resides in Connecticut with her family. Her first book of poetry, Pathways, was published in Hebrew in Israel in 2022.