All
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All
three (28k modem enabled ) best sound || download [mp3 download]
All of them (for 14 k modems )
Keys
3 min. || d [mp3 download]
|| see the words
Shidduch in Monsey (see the words )
Mezuza
1min. || d [mp3 download]
Mezzuzahs
Implanted on my doorways,
they guard my home like sentinels.
Directed outward towards my enemies,
they never slumber inside their silver cases,
each perfect letter a corner of the world.
Even if You watch me, I must guard myself,
see that my yid eyes do not stray
to covet the homes of the wealthy, or anger
razing sholom bayit to the ground.
Even if You shield my garden, I must be vigilant
of letters fleeing into the world as sentences
all too quickly; I must erase all gray evils
of thought inside my mind.
In their robust majesty, they remind me
I am a Jew, a small humble in the vastness of nations.
I am safeguarded, too,
by the goodness of my acts,
prayers over the sick and neglected.
Mezzuzahs protect me from harmful strangers
and remind me of myself.
-mina friedler
min. || d [mp3 download]
Keys
3 min. || d [mp3 download]
- Words follow
Keys [to Eli and Deddy]
I.
For Eli's happy kiddy days
we search on Hunter Mountain, there,
behind a whitewashed railing, the 1908 shul key
hangs on the same nail
for fifteen years, To click open
the latch through rust is easy,
but not to inhale captured air
from lungs grown away, sweet must curling mahogany
balconies where veiled women once visited G-d, love
thumbed Siddurs, Chumashim imprisoned behind glass, name
notched cheder tables, blue velvet hole worn into the
bima's coverlet, chipped stained glass Star of David panes,
crystal night chandeliers, clock stopped at five to seven.
Every object speaks
alone
Seated in the Bluzhova Rebbe's prayer chair
cornered next to the Ark where two velvet
lions forever guard his beloved Scrolls, I try to imagine
past summer suns, children's davening voices
while outside, insects twitch, stray giggles wave
across the bridge
a continent away, do then young know
what kindnesses they stand upon
brave actions taken,
leaves long mulched over
unmarked graves, chai's candle wick
burning in memory
as G-d calls through Nature,
remember My miracles, messengers
II.
Deddy, Rabbi Friedler, strokes his cloud white beard,
eyes rivet on distant points no
present map can record
..1938…
Thursday night, the S.S…
I, a student with a ticket
to Schneider's Yeshiva, England….
tricked, they said we could return,
Mother, Father and I took nothing.. forced
to travel on trains….desecrate Shabbos wazzu morning…
to Polish border town, Zbanzyn….live in stables…My mother
an old peasant farmer….gone when the Nazis called
our names to go to Rozhniyatov…where they would never
have let me leave…months passed…no visa, 36 zlotas we
could not stand…. the conditions…rented a room….
did not have… I wrote a letter… Rabbi Chameides of
Katowice….told him I wanted to study Torah….sealed the
envelope…it came, the visa, no words, promises or cordial
invitations, what was needed….36…double chai…life…
goodbye at the train station… two weeks later, borders
closed…I worked sent 25 zlotas a month to help Mama and
Papa…never again…. the Rabbi…murdered at Belzec…
III.
Deddy's tear sounds beat against my ears
like a baby's first wails of a time just now
full circle felt
after more than fifty years,
i cry too, Deddy……no more tzaar…
…1996..
We quiver in their steps,
ground spinning, Rabbi Chameides,
the Bluzhova Rebbe, Deddy,
dim the lights in Hunter Shul,
twist the latch, hang the key
back on the nail with
happy kiddy days.
-mina friedler
Shidduch
in Monsey 3 min. || d [mp3 download]
Shidduch in Monsey
Is it already two years [and six months and four hours]
since we glided through the streets of Monsey
to your parents' doorstep
I, who was new to Yiddishkeit
grappling up a steep incline of faith
to the summit where
I could meet you on your road back
to the Torah's worthy parchment
you had forsaken for so long
despite your stays in hallowed corridors
of Yeshivas great and small
How we met was Hashem's miracle
your mother and my sister
seated at the same wedding table in Monsey
strangers two seats apart
until the woman separating them by a single chair
was called away;
your mother's gregariousness propelling her onwards to
occupy that vacant seat
so that a fateful conversation could ensue
They spoke of routine matters
but in between the casual lines
Divine inspiration guided their words:
"I have an unmarried sister living in Los Angeles!"
"I have an unmarried son living arrived there, too!"
The grand design begun forty days before our conceptions
soon hummed across the telephone wires
Back in Los Angeles,
Mama picked up the phone
whispers
furtive glances
and then
Mama tapped me on the shoulder
"Do you want to meet…."
Although I was weary of all the
shidduch dates with the "wrong" ones
I answered "yes" in one last try
I remember when you at the door
kindness emanating from your face
mother as, shyly, you looked down at the floor
when my mother brought me out to meet you
You did not glare or stare or look around at our
worn faded sofa or at our chipping paint
You kept your head straight and smiled
not too excited but polite
You had a sefer with you on that first date
Michtav M'Eliyahu your name sake
Between the salad and the halibut
and the dessert at the end
you read to me
each sentence a mussar schmooze of wisdom
Four weeks later
half stunned yet carried along by Hashem's will
we were off across the continent
A sign, "Welcome, Eli-Ku" white papered
across your parents' threshold
a full fledged meal with gleaming silver
awaiting us at 2:00 a.m.
as your father and greeted us with daylight smiles
That Friday night, I shall never forget
your mother, your father, you and I
seated around the Shabbos table
for the very first time
Your father peering at us gently
a beatific smile of approval
beneath his snow white beard
"What business is this?" he asks, straight and fine
Staring at me shyly you answer, "I don't know."
I pretend not to hear
"Ani Yosef," your father says, "Until Joseph identified
himself to his brothers
they did not know who he was
Until you decide what this feeling is between you,
we cannot tell."
I do not know what angel was tugging at my sleeve
"Let's go out for a walk," I said
Out into the drizzling night we went
walking and walking and walking warming ourselves with motion in the chilly air
What words did we exchange?
I do not remember
I felt that it was destined
this walk of ours
And then it came
the brilliant words
beneath the dazzling stars
"Will you marry me?" you asked.
Without a doubt or whimper,
I knew my line so well-
"Yes" and the world was
forever transformed….
six months later, a new family bond forged
beneath the chupah's eternal light
Can it be more than two years since it all began!
-mina friedler
When Hashem took Grandpa
He gave us you, your saucer
eyes drink the first
few months of life, your regal form
kicks on a snow white blanket
a child of Zion
in blue velvet
cries as if you call
to all generations, "Come back,
claim your heritage, speak
wazzu together as one people". Out of your
little lungs comes Sarah's laughter
Rachel's joy, Leah's tears
careening down our cheeks
In time, your velvet
dress becomes
too small, the snow white blanket
fades. You grow into your years,
walk with your father's eyes,
your mother's pride, bend before
the Torah's commandments,
bring inside
the Shabbos light
until now you stand
at twelve, a woman of Zion.
Be valiant and true to your legacy
begun in Poland, in Israel. Hold high
Love's scepter. Bring it down gently
with chesed and compassion
for Klal Yisroel and
humanity.
-mina friedler
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