The Day of Atonement

by Jeffrey Burghauser (April 2025)

It is a widespread custom in most of the Diaspora of Israel to recall the souls of one’s fathers and relatives who went to their eternal world, on Yom Kippur after the reading from the Proph­ets, and to donate to charity for the recollection of their souls. […] Whether he be young or old, everyone whose father and mother are still alive goes outside during the Memorial Prayers, to avoid the possibility of the evil eye[.] —S.Y. Agnon[*]

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Tenor
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May God remember all the souls
Of those whose names comprise the rolls
_____Of the slain—
By means of bullet, fire, spear,
Or truncheon, turned into a mere
_____Thickened stain.
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May God remember all the men
Reduced into a slurry when
_____Lethal glee
Inspired incoherent brutes
Of Spain, Majdanek & Kibbutz
_____Be’eri.
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Without descending to allow
Myself an irreligious vow
_____(Vows imply
A power over forces kept
Obscure to everyone except
_____Adonai),
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I vow before the Heavens’ King
To give a sweetly whispering,
_____Modest sum
In grateful memory of those
Upon whom Destiny bestows
_____Martyrdom.
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And may their souls receive from Thee
The everlasting unity
_____Justice marks
For those who die in Heaven’s bright
Esteem, and all the Israelite
_____Patriarchs.
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Echo
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But what if Martyrdom had found
The panting Jew on Christian ground,
_____Having run,
Indignant, after seeing a
Repulsive curse in being a
_____Father’s son?
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[*] Days of Awe: A Treasury of Jewish Wisdom for Reflection, Repentance, and Renewal on the High Holy Days. Schocken Books Inc., 1965. p. 235.

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Jeffrey Burghauser is a teacher in Columbus, Ohio. He was educated at SUNY-Buffalo and the University of Leeds. He currently studies the five-string banjo with a focus on pre-WWII picking styles. A former artist-in-residence at the Arad Arts Project (Israel), his poems have appeared (or are forthcoming) in Appalachian Journal, Fearsome Critters, Iceview, Lehrhaus, and New English Review. Jeffrey’s book-length collections are available on Amazon, and his website is www.jeffreyburghauser.com.

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