In twos and threes the men arrive,
\nclean, well dressed, solemn.
\nPrayer shawls in packages tucked
\nunder arms, white or colored caps
\nperched upon balding heads.<\/p>\n
The building greets them,
\nswallows them up like sugar.
\nThey mingle and mix as they unpack
\ntheir shawls, kiss the words on them,
\ndrape them over their shoulders
\nand pick up prayer books.<\/p>\n
It doesn\u2019t matter if blind Sam or crazy Phil
\nor your angry brother-in-law are there.
\nAll are greeted with ‘good Shabbas’,
\nand a nod, a handshake or a bow.
\nAll Jews deserve a good rest. A day of peace.
\nCessation from hostilities and grievances.
\nHa-shem in his wisdom knew this.<\/p>\n
In this place, all mitzvahs are honored.
\nAll grief is shared. All joys lift all members.
\nPlace of study. Place of learning.
\nPlace of community. Place of shared meals.
\nPlace of belonging. Place of holidays.
\nPlace of fond memories and dear friends.
\nOur schul. Our synagogue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In twos and threes the men arrive, clean, well dressed, solemn. Prayer shawls in packages tucked under arms, white or colored caps perched upon balding heads. The building greets them, swallows them up like sugar. They mingle and mix as they unpack their shawls, kiss…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1075,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marathon-poem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1075"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53914"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54077,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53914\/revisions\/54077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}