For Hava Nashira 2007
Two days later and I am unpacking my clothes
We delay these details because it makes the experience linger
I put my shirts in the laundry and I can smell Hava Nashira
It sounds funny, but it is a holy funk to be sure
We are a congregation. We pray together once a year.
Why should we be different than any other Jew?
We are a family who celebrates each others lives
Weddings and births, mitzvot and healing
We heal each other with our voices and touch
We@ intertwine our souls then spread throughout the world
linked by the whisper of an Oconomowoc rainfall.
An entire year and we will hear that rain.
We welcome the stranger.
Our family grows instantly with their presence.
Our absent family members are still with us.
You cannot leave a family.
We are an institution. An exclusive club with limited semiprivate housing.
We build new buildings so more can join us.
Today two hundred twenty five in Wisconsin
Tomorrow every billion everywhere. We are infectious.
We see the light in our leaders. They see the light in us
We shine the light in all places.
We cannot explain what we do here. We just do
and come back to do again.
We are nitzavim. We are holy.
We are love.
I put my suitcase in the closet
I put my music on the shelf
The light of five days
will last a year.