Day After Yom Kippur {a poem}

I’ve read Tikkun magazine since the mid 1990s, when I first felt the calling to become a rabbi and began to actively seek out Jewish learning, texts, and teachers.

When I wrote a new poem yesterday morning my first thought was to look up their submission guidelines. The guidelines stated that because they have such an itty-bitty staff (my words, not theirs!), they are unable to send out rejections, and that it can take 5-6 months to respond to pieces that will be accepted for publication.

But there was one caveat, which included an email address to send work in the case that the submission would be “irrelevant” in six months time. Since my poem was literally called “Day After Yom Kippur,” I figured it definitely fit in that category and sent it off.

When I received an email in the afternoon from Rabbi Michael Lerner saying the poem would appear on the website’s home page in the “Jewish Wisdom” section, I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you I had a total fangirl moment. Here it is!