This piece is part of our Wit­ness­ing series, which shares pieces from Israeli authors and authors in Israel, as well as the expe­ri­ences of Jew­ish writ­ers around the globe in the after­math of Octo­ber 7th.

It is crit­i­cal to under­stand his­to­ry not just through the books that will be writ­ten lat­er, but also through the first-hand tes­ti­monies and real-time account­ing of events as they occur. At Jew­ish Book Coun­cil, we under­stand the val­ue of these writ­ten tes­ti­mo­ni­als and of shar­ing these indi­vid­ual expe­ri­ences. It’s more impor­tant now than ever to give space to these voic­es and narratives.

Help Me Remem­ber, Hafiz, When All I Can See Is Nir Oz
 

—after Sacred Dance for Life”


How do I stop my heart from chok­ing on stone?


I want to smile, to lift and be lift­ed. Yes—

even to dance. But how


to untan­gle my feet, dear Hafiz? How

to unsnarl my arms so I may reach God?


Oh, Sacred Dance for Life,

you’ve come to me when I need you


most. My fin­gers scroll,

my grief swells. I am not


alone in forgetting

we were cre­at­ed for joy. Please,


oh poem, oh poet!

Tell me. How


to unsee


this once child’s sheet, tucked

neat­ly around four corners?


The views and opin­ions expressed above are those of the author, based on their obser­va­tions and experiences.

Sup­port the work of Jew­ish Book Coun­cil and become a mem­ber today.

Diane Got­tlieb is the edi­tor of Awak­en­ings: Sto­ries of Body and Con­scious­ness (ELJ Edi­tions). Her words appear in 2023 Best Microfic­tion, Riv­er Teeth, The Flori­da Review, Huff­Post, Jew­ish Lit­er­ary Jour­nal, Smoke­Long Quar­ter­ly, and The Rum­pus, among many oth­er love­ly places. She is the win­ner of Tifer­et Journal’s 2021 Writ­ing Con­test in non­fic­tion, longlist­ed at 2023’s Wigleaf Top 50, a final­ist of The Flori­da Review’s Editor’s Prize for Cre­ative Non­fic­tion, and the Prose/​CNF Edi­tor of Emerge Lit­er­ary Jour­nal. Find her at https://​diane​got​tlieb​.com and on social media @DianeGotAuthor.