Page Title

Dina Green
Yeshiva Shaarei Tzion
Piscataway, NJ

The Separate Song

Standing apart
separate
we are girded
in our solitude
even as
events, people
thunder overhead
like a waterfall
that crashes mercilessly down
as years
and faces
slide smoothly into nothingness
tumbling away
into a void

Looking always
Heavenwards
the Jewish People
working to be
Special
everlasting
like a song that is sung forever
crystal notes stretching across time
strung across the years

The winds of nations
whistling past
shouting their own praises
but in the end
fading
passing
gone
a maelstrom of blurred images
roaring past
spiraling downwards
towards
a black oblivion
struggling vainly
to leave just one mark
to chisel their names
into the wall of History
but their disappearance
is inevitable

And in the background
the golden melody
of the Jewish people
can be heard
softly at times
but nonetheless
strongly
as it has
forever
and as it will
forever still

And still
it can be heard
in the sweet voice of a child
who knows
that he has done right
and still
it can be seen
in the flicker of a smile
that passes between friends
and still
it can be felt
in the heartfelt caress
that a mother gives her child

The sparkling, glowing notes
breathtaking in their clarity
joining together
to form a heritage
a smooth cascade of song
a treasure
to hum to babies
whispering to them
of the legacy
that is ripe before them

To chant with children
instructing them
of our ways
those that they will inherit

For us to sing always
to remind us
who we are

Jews worldwide
spread across
oceans
and vast countries
are undivided
because
we all sing
the very same song
as the mother
across the sea
as the child
in the desert
as the man
in the mountains
as the girl
in the city

The notes
never change
and so
we have not changed
the rhythm
is the same
and so
we are the same
the other nations
have called to us,
“Sing with us
blend your voices with ours
form a new song
a better one”

But we know better
we cannot sing with them
lest our voice
be drowned out
our voices do not
harmonize
with theirs
because we are
Different
we sing
a different song
and so
we remain
Separate
from them

We know
the value
of our glorious melody
given to us
by our Father
our King
He who sees patterns
in our song
that no one else
can see
we know
there is no better song

And like a stone
standing tall
on the seashore
surrounded by smooth sands
is still upright
and unyielding
after years of waves
and tides
while the sands
have long ago
been swept away
and forgotten
we are still here
though who can remember
the nations’ might
they who once were strong
they stood
like hawks
on sheer cliffs
and shrieked their power
and reveled
in their glory
but it could not last

The wolf calls
long and loud
throughout the night
but the night passes
and the wolf
must still his cry
and slink away
silent

The waterfall roars on
pushing generations downwards
out of sight
to be forgotten
but just as a waterfall crashes onto a stone
and splits around it
defeated
we are unchanged
a witness to all of history
for we will not be sucked down
to join the disappearing waters
we will live
and sing
and remember
and stay special
separate
everlasting.