I want to be a Jew.
Even at this time as they hunt Jews like wild boar.
I want my children to be Jewish.
But when 340 Rabbis grovel publicly in compliant fealty,
To a man who so disrespects me and everything that my people have ever stood for,
It makes it harder for me to face the great test that lies before us today.
And it makes being Jewish so horribly unappealing for my children
To view the proclaimed shepherds of our faith,
Stooped so low in meek submission,
Before a lord of black intent;
As they once would have had to do in Egypt.
I am flawed but not beyond redemption.
But little men and women as you have made yourselves into
Are unable to offer me access to redemption.
Men and women like yourselves offer fancy slogans and group speak
And the togetherness of an unthinking herd who has lost all hope.
Could it be possible that they had more hope
While standing in a freezing boxcar on the way to Auschwitz?
You have festooned yourselves in robes of high minded civility,
Borrowing worn out clichés from 1964,
To convince us that you are social avengers.
But you fool none of us.
We all see that you are really just panicked to the core;
And as cowards have always done,
Scamper sycophantically to the hand that you sense is
At this moment stronger and emerging.
Are you the simple child?
Or the wicked child?
Or maybe the child that just does not know how to ask?
Regardless, you may sit at the table with us.