{"id":43237,"date":"2018-11-03T23:53:52","date_gmt":"2018-11-03T21:53:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=43237"},"modified":"2022-05-29T12:52:16","modified_gmt":"2022-05-29T09:52:16","slug":"the-sabbath-desecrator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-sabbath-desecrator\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sabbath Desecrator"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cObserve the <\/span>Shabbat<\/span><\/i>, for it is sacred for you; its desecrators will surely die; whoever does work on it \u2014 that soul shall be cut off from amidst his kin.\u201d (Exodus 31:14)<\/span><\/p>\n

Late Friday afternoons
\n<\/span>In the restaurant of regret,
\n<\/span>Remorse comes to me
\n<\/span>Punctually,
\n<\/span>Like a dutiful waiter.
\n<\/span>When I open the menu,
\n<\/span>All the words flee
\n<\/span>Quickly, like cockroaches in the night
\n<\/span>When a light is suddenly turned on.
\n<\/span>I am left holding a mirror,
\n<\/span>In which I see a skeleton
\n<\/span>With no <\/span>kippah<\/span><\/i> and no <\/span>tallit.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Remorse bends over and whispers in my ear,
\n<\/span>As if he were my long-lost twin brother
\n<\/span>Revealing a secret,
\n<\/span>\u201cYou\u2019re not a real Jew.\u201d
\n<\/span>He shows me how the maitre-d
\n<\/span>Has turned his back on me,
\n<\/span>How candles refuse to burn
\n<\/span>At my table.<\/span><\/p>\n

Remorse gives me a seat by a bay-window
\n<\/span>Overlooking the sea; I watch
\n<\/span>A red sun sink and drown
\n<\/span>In an ocean of acid.
\n<\/span>The restaurant quivers, as in an earthquake;
\n<\/span>Will I too fall into this ocean,
\n<\/span>Unable to call out
\n<\/span>\u201c<\/span>Shma Yisrael<\/span><\/i>\u201d?<\/span><\/p>\n

On Friday evenings
\n<\/span>In the restaurant of regret,
\n<\/span>There is no music and no heat;
\n<\/span>I shiver
\n<\/span>Like a winter\u2019s tree in a snowstorm,
\n<\/span>Without my children for leaves,
\n<\/span>Without my fathers for roots.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Friday nights
\n<\/span>In the restaurant of regret,
\n<\/span>I am brought nothing to eat;
\n<\/span>When I ask the waiter why,
\n<\/span>Remorse shrugs his shoulder and replies
\n<\/span>Confidentially,
\n<\/span>\u201cSorry, you\u2019re not kosher.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

If only I could eat home-cooked food again.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the door to the House of Israel
\n<\/span>Is locked
\n<\/span>For me.<\/span><\/p>\n

If I knock at the kitchen window,
\n<\/span>Is there a chance
\n<\/span>Someone will open it?<\/span><\/p>\n

Will I ever taste again
\n<\/span>The <\/span>Shabbat challot<\/em> <\/span>my mother used to bake
\n<\/span>Every Friday afternoon?<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: Nighthawks by Edward Hopper, 1942 \/ wikipedia (public domain)<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":98733,"id":98733,"title":"neh13-Nighthawks_by_Edward_Hopper_1942","filename":"neh13-Nighthawks_by_Edward_Hopper_1942.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/neh13-Nighthawks_by_Edward_Hopper_1942.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-sabbath-desecrator-2\/neh13-nighthawks_by_edward_hopper_1942\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"neh13-nighthawks_by_edward_hopper_1942","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":98732,"date":"2021-11-02 09:38:08","modified":"2022-05-29 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