The Yom Hashoah Community Arts Project
More Poetry
200 DAYS
A note from the artist: Regina shared this poem on her Instagram feed, and agreed to let us share it here as well as part of our Yom HaShoa Community Arts project. While it wasn't inspired by our prompt, it certainly captures its essence.
About the artist: Regina Spektor is a Russian-born American singer, songwriter, and pianist. After self-releasing her first three records and gaining popularity in New York City's independent music scenes, Spektor signed with Sire Records in 2004 resulting in greater mainstream recognition. Spektor was inducted into the Bronx Walk of Fame on May 18, 2019, by Borough President Rubén Díaz Jr.
Born and raised in Moscow until age nine, Spektor listened to her father's bootleg tapes of Western pop and rock as a young child and also learned to play piano. She and her family moved from Russia to the Bronx, where she was immersed in American culture. Spektor further developed her classical piano training by attending the SUNY Purchase Music Conservatory. During her studies, she was exposed to blues and jazz artists like Billie Holiday, who would have a significant influence on Spektor’s music. After gaining popularity from two successful album releases, subsequent tours with the Strokes, Kings of Leon, Mates of State, and the Moldy Peaches' Kimya Dawson further raised Spektor's profile and brought her to the attention of international audiences. Learn more on her website, www.reginaspektor.com
by Regina Spektor
A note from the artist: This poem flew out of me in ten minutes. It is what burns deeply within me as a mother, an author, a proud Jew, daughter of a Holocaust survivor. How do we stop the hatred? How do we find light in the darkness? Why is 2024 the new 1944? Never again is RIGHT Now. We must stand strong. We are all in this TOGETHER.
About the artist: Lisa Barr is the New York Times bestselling author of Woman On Fire. Her new historical thriller The Goddess of Warsaw is out this month.
by Lisa Barr
WHEN I LOOK AT HER
HAGGADAH (TELLING)
A note from the artist: My mom, Elaine, was our family's bright light, and I wanted to write about her. Also, I clearly have Passover on my mind.
About the artist: Courtney Sheinmel is the author of over thirty books for kids and teens. She lives in New York City.
by Courtney Sheinmel
NOT ENOUGH TEARS ON YOM HASHOAH
A note from the artist: Poem inspired by reading Holocaust testimony
About the artist: Susan Dubin is the library and education consultant to the Sperling Kronberg Mack Holocaust Resource Center located in Las Vegas. This position led her to work with the World Federation of Jewish Child Holocaust Survivors and Descendants, Generations of the Shoah International, and Association of Holocaust Organizations in organizing their international conferences. As a library and education consultant, she provides classes for Clark County School District teachers and students in Holocaust education. In addition, she organizes community events that feature authors, artists, and musicians. Kol Isha: Poems in the Voices of Women from the Bible was her first book. She has five other titles which include Book of Ruth, A Passover Haggadah in Poems, Katzele and the Silver Candlesticks, Jewish Stories and Poems All Around the Year, and, The Story of Esther. She is also one of the authors of the original play Give My Regards to Broadway which debuted at Sun City Anthem’s Freedom Hall in October, 2022. Her work in progress is Voces Feminae: Poems in the Voices of Women in the New Testament. Susan was the recipient of the Dorothy Schroeder Award and Fanny Goldstein Award for contributions to the field of Judaica Librarianship as well as the Milken Family Foundation Distinguished Educator Award. In 2021, she was named Nevada’s Jewish Educator of the Year for 2020. Susan is also listed in Who’s Who in Education and Who’s Who of American Women.
by Susan Dubin
ALL OF US ARE CANDLES
About the artist: Bruce Black is author of Writing Yoga (Rodmell Press/Shambhala) and the editorial director of The Jewish Writing Project. His poetry and personal essays have appeared in numerous publications, including Write-Haus, Soul-Lit, The BeZine, Bearings, Super Poetry Highway, Poetica, Lehrhaus, Atherton Review, Elephant Journal, Tiferet, Hevria, Jewthink, The Jewish Literary Journal, The Reform Jewish Quarterly, Mindbodygreen, and Chicken Soup for the Soul. He lives in Highland Park, IL.
by Bruce Black
A note from the artist: This poem was written in memory of a refugee and survivor of Nazi Germany, whom I interviewed for a book. About five months after she passed, I converted to Judaism and felt heartbroken that I didn't get the chance to tell her.
About the artist: Darlene P. Campos is the author of young adult novels, Behind Mount Rushmore, Summer Camp is Canceled, and Heaven Isn't Me, all traditionally published by Vital Narrative Press. Campos also earned her MFA in creative writing from the University of Texas at El Paso. When she's not writing, she enjoys reading, exercising, and going to museums. She is Ecuadorian-American and lives in Houston, TX with her husband and their eight rescue cats. Visit her website at www.darlenepcampos.com.
by Darlene Campos
UNTITLED
YOM HASHOAH, NEVER FORGET
A note from the artist: I wrote this especially for the Yom HaShoah Community Arts Project.
About the artist: Adrienne Asher, aged 58, resides in South Florida with her husband, Steven, and has been writing poetry since the age of 12.
by Adrienne Asher
WHEN SHALL WE SPEAK AGAIN OF PEACE
A note from the artist: I created this song, the accompanying poem, and the artwork as a means of engendering empathy for the kidnapped Israelis. (May they be returned home at once.) Too often we read about them as numbers, as blank figures caught in the midst of great tragedy. I have seized on the Bibas twins, K'fir and Ariel. They are in my thoughts hour to hour. I mean that literally. For me, they represent both the hatred I hold for our enemies and the love I have for our people, Am Yisroel. I try my best to focus only on the latter. Listen to the song here.
About the artist: Peter Himmelman is a Grammy and Emmy nominated singer-songwriter, visual artist, best-selling author, film composer, entrepreneur, and rock and roll performer with over 20 critically acclaimed recordings to his credit.
by Peter Himmelman
FOR MY COUNTRY
by Rachel Blaustein; translated by Mildred Faintly
A note from the artist: This translation of Rachel Blaustein's great Zionist poem, and indeed my translation of her complete poems, was made in response to the suffering of Jewish women in the October 7 pogrom.
About the artist: Mildred Faintly is a world-renowned poet and translator who considers her life’s work to provide accessible, elegant, literary translations of poetry written by women. She is also a reviewer and editor for 96th of October and is actively interested in writing by women and LGBTQ persons.
Faintly holds a doctorate in classics from Brown University, and taught classics and history of religions at Haifa University. She is excited to announce The Ben Yehuda Press is publishing her translation of Else Lasker-Schüler's book of poetry, Styx, and the Daniel 13 Press is publishing her translation from ancient Egyptian of The Case of Horus vs. Seth. Her present project is a translation of the complete Hebrew poems of Rachel Blaustein.
NO ME QUIEREN
A note from the artist: Poem inspired by reading Holocaust testimony
About the artist: Susan Dubin is the library and education consultant to the Sperling Kronberg Mack Holocaust Resource Center located in Las Vegas. This position led her to work with the World Federation of Jewish Child Holocaust Survivors and Descendants, Generations of the Shoah International, and Association of Holocaust Organizations in organizing their international conferences.
As a library and education consultant, she provides classes for Clark County School District teachers and students in Holocaust education. In addition, she organizes community events that feature authors, artists, and musicians. Kol Isha: Poems in the Voices of Women from the Bible was her first book. She has five other titles and is one of the authors of the original play Give My Regards to Broadway which debuted at Sun City Anthem’s Freedom Hall in October, 2022.
Susan was the recipient of the Dorothy Schroeder Award and Fanny Goldstein Award for contributions to the field of Judaica Librarianship as well as the Milken Family Foundation Distinguished Educator Award. In 2021, she was named Nevada’s Jewish Educator of the Year for 2020. Susan is also listed in Who’s Who in Education and Who’s Who of American Women.
by Susan Dubin
OUR LIVES ARE LIT
A note from the artist: Lauren J Walter is a writer, photographer, artist, and lawyer based in Charlotte, NC. She primarily writes novels but occasionally dabbles in short fiction and poetry. She uses photography to satisfy her visual side.
by Lauren J. Walter
FIRST SHABBAT
A note from the artist: After a secular Jewish upbringing and a lifetime drawn to other religious traditions, since October 7th, I have begun exploring and embracing Judaism's spiritual dimensions, attending synagogue regularly. The deepened sense of identity and community I am finding is transformative.
About the artist: Anne Myles is the author of Late Epistle, winner of Sappho’s Prize in Poetry (Headmistress Press, 2023). Her poems have appeared in numerous journals and has been nominated for multiple Pushcart awards. Anne is Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Northern Iowa and holds a PhD from the University of Chicago and an MFA from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. She lives in Greensboro, North Carolina. Learn more at annemyles.com.
by Anne Myles
IN THE LIGHT OF THE MOON
A note from the artist: This poem was written in solidarity with all the men, women and children who are still held hostage today. As I celebrate Passover, my heart is held hostage with them.
About the artist: Ilana R. Wieder received her M.F.A. from UC Davis. After many years of working as an actress, Ilana began telling stories through playwriting, stage directing, and writing for children. Ilana is the founder of Shalom Writers where she hosts online meetings with writers who are passionate about telling Jewish stories. When she’s not writing or directing, Ilana loves to read, paint, travel with her family and play with her dog, Mitzi. Visit Ilana at: https://www.ilanarwieder.com.
by Ilana R. Wieder
PRAYER BY STEPS
A note from the artist: This piece is inspired by the exodus from Egypt and the Jewish history of resilience, action and love to overcome hate and move toward a more beautiful present and future.
About the artist: Andrea Lee-Zucker is a transformational coach, artist, writer, and impact investor striving to live her values in every layer of her life. Her art, writing and coaching center around oneness and the power of our internal journeys to be the building blocks of justice, love and peace. Andrea is Co-founder of Antigravity Ventures, which invests in purpose-driven and inclusive social enterprises. She also serves on the executive committee of the US board of IsraAID, an NGO that partners with local communities around the world to provide urgent aid, assist in recovery, and reduce the risk of future disasters. Andrea is the proud mother of three children and wife of a tech entrepreneur who is helping her discover the potential of our exponential future.
by Andrea Lee-Zucker
BREAKING CONVENTION
A note from the artist: "Breaking Convention" was written about fifteen poems in regards to my Post October 7 writing obsession. It is the manifestation of many arguments and confrontations in my head with people who wrongly (whether knowingly or not) claim that they aren't antisemitic, just anti Zionist.
About the artist: I am a transgender, disabled, Jew. I am a part-time gardener and aspiring author and forest dweller.
by Mason Gordon
A note from the artist: Light and shadow, birth and death, universal and particular, the Jew always lives inside these liminal spaces, and brings to this a singular, open, uncertain flickering perception of the world as it is, purring, humming with the wound of possibility.
About the artist: Pushcart nominee and Temple University English Professor Lisa Grunberger is a first-generation American writer. Her poetry books, I am dirty (Moonstone) and Born Knowing (Finishing Line Press) are lyrical reflections on life as a woman, a mother, and a daughter of Holocaust survivors. Whether it is the aging woman's body, the infertile body, the body ravaged by war and trauma, all her work addresses human embodiment in a philosophical, spiritual, tender and satirical voice. Lisa’s poems have been translated into Slovenian, Russian, Spanish and Yiddish.Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Paterson Literary Review, Mudfish, The Laurel Review, The Drunken Boat, Bridges: A Jewish Feminist Journal, Philadelphia Stories, Paroles des Jour, Dialogi, Crab Orchard Review, Mom Egg Review, The Baffler, Fine Linen Press. Lisa teaches Yoga and Writing workshops and lives with her family in Philadelphia. To learn more, visit her website at www.Lisa-Grunberger.com
by Lisa Grunberger
SECULAR SABBATH
THE GOOD JEW
A note from the artist: I'm not usually a poet, but this poem just appeared to me. It's based on what people have been telling me online and in person about what it means to be Jewish.
About the artist: Leigh Shulman is a writer and writing mentor with two decades of experience under her belt. She founded The Inspired Writer Community, an online mentoring community for writers at any stage in their writing lives. Her bestselling book The Writer's Roadmap: Paving the Way To Your Ideal Writing Life helps thousands find their way in the writing world. Her international writing retreat and website are listed in The Write Life’s top resources for writers, and her words have appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, Longreads, and Guernica among others. Leigh lives in Argentina with her family where she writes and wonders if she’s the only person on earth who doesn’t like dulce de leche.