Since 1999 I have served as Rabbi of Congregation B’nai Olam. B’nai Olam is a unique and special congregation in Fire Island Pines, a beautiful summer community on Fire Island, a barrier island off the Coast of Long Island, which meets only for Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur. In 2007 I began writing a new poem every year for Rosh HaShanah – feel free to also read 2008, 2009, or 2010. Here is the fifth, from 2011. Shanah tovah u’metukah.
Rosh HaShanah in the Pines, 2011/5772
Darkness settles, slowly, across the horizon.
The new year rises before us,
its fragile moon awaiting our embrace.
Heaven and earth entwine
in their annual dance of re-creation.
A fissure appears in the firmament tonight,
an entranceway into new beginnings.
Out beyond the swales
the sea expands and contracts,
keeping time to the thrumming of the universe.
Under this Rosh HaShanah sky
the path before us is uncertain.
All we can do is hold each other tight
as we make our way home.