A Rabbi Can’t Mend A Broken Heart…by Robert M. Katzman
(copyright May 1, 2011)
This new poem was inspired by, and written expressly for Rabbi Debra Nesselson.
Watching her blossom over the last year from being a relatively quiet figure heard from the bimah only occasionally, to becoming the voice and face of B’nai Torah Congregation to the world, has fascinated me. She is her own fairy-tale.
Today, Friday June 10, 2011 Debra Nesselson becomes a Rabbi for the rest of her life.
Her choosing to leave behind a career as a lawyer after spending seven years to become that, to spending another eight years transforming herself into a Rabbi so she could understand the law in a far more fundamental way, means Debra has spent fifteen years to get to where she is today.
More than a quarter of her entire life.
How many people would ever consider doing such a thing? Very few.
Maybe we didn’t know what we had in our new Rabbi before today, but we certainly do now.
Here’s my poem to celebrate her new role in this important Jewish institution.
If anyone deserves a poem to contemplate their lives, it’s Debra Nesselson.
(First Unexpected Note: Rabbi Nesselson left our temple two months later. Not all things make sense, but what I wrote about Rabbis remains what I believe. I still respect and care very much about Debra Nesselson.
(2nd Unexpected Note) After a tumultuous period of temple politics over philosophy, and a merry-go-round of different rabbis, my sixty-year-old temple with its 750 families closed almost exactly three years after I first posted this poem, on June 30, 2014. A tragedy. This note was amended on September 24th, 2014, just before the beginning of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah. I remain friends with and infinitely respect Rabbi Nesselson who is an unaffiliated rabbi who celebrates marriages, births, deaths and any other circumstances where people want a real rabbi.)
A Rabbi
Doesn’t have all the answers
But
With a thousand other
Contentious Rabbis’
Arguments
Ricocheting thru the Centuries
and
Ringing in her Ears
She probably has more
Good Choices
To pick from
Than you do
***
A Rabbi is no Magician
But
She can take ordinary things:
An elevated stage
A prayer shawl
Some rolled parchment
A laying on of her hands
Some very ancient incantations
And somehow create
Distinct and Immortal Moments
For Ordinary People
***
Einstein
Might have said
The Formulae for
A good Rabbi
A compassionate Rabbi
A perceptive Rabbi
Would be:
R=Teacher, squared
***
A Rabbi can’t mend a broken heart
But
She can hold it
Shelter it
Let time slow down
So a Person
A Family
Can steady themselves
And then
Give it back to them
Ready to go on
***
A committed Rabbi
A gifted Rabbi
Makes us feel
The gentle waters
Rocking Moses’ cradle
As he floats to his
Unimaginable Destiny
But can also
Skillfully Inflict us today
The Free Descendants
With
The shimmering African Heat
The sharp grit of Desert Sands
and the
Deeply Cutting Fury of the Lash
On the backs of
The Hebrew Slaves of Egypt
***
A Rabbi of Distinction
Can invoke
The Lightening, the Rumble
And the
Mystery of Sinai
To help us comprehend
The Unique Mystique
And
Eternal Burden
Of being “Chosen”
***
Chosen:
Not an honor
But an accepted
Responsibility
To bring light
Unto the nations
No wonder
No one else
Wanted the honor
When it was offered
To them, first
As the ancient story goes
***
A Rabbi
Who listens
Considers
Weighs Risk and Benefit
Embodies Resolve
Can move
Ordinary People
To make a United Stand
When the Times demand it
***
Such a Rabbi
Can take Bricks
Glass and Stone and Wood
And create
A Community of Jews
A Temple of Learning
And just possibly add
Her own Voice
To the Centuries
May we here today, be so Blessed
*********************
Publishing News!
Bob Katzman’s two new true Chicago books are now for sale, from him!
Vol. One: A Savage Heart and Vol. Two: Fighting Words
Gritty, violent, friendship, classic American entrepreneurship love, death, heartbreak and the real dirt about surviving in a completely corrupt major city under the Chicago Machine. More history and about one man’s life than a person may imagine.
Please visit my new website: https://www.dontgoquietlypress.com
If a person doesn’t want to use PayPaI, I also have a PO Box & I ship anywhere in America.
Send me a money order with your return and contact info.
I will get your books to you within ten days.
Here’s complete information on how to buy my books:
Vol 1: A Savage Heart and Vol. 2: Fighting Words
My books weigh almost 2 pounds each, with about 525 pages each and there are a total together of 79 stories and story/poems.
Robert M. Katzman
Don’t Go Quietly Press
PO Box 44287
Racine, Wis. 53404-9998 (262)752-3333, 8AM–7PM
Books cost $29.95 each, plus shipping
For: (1)$3.95; (2)$5.95; (3)$7.95; (4)$8.95 (5)$9.95;(6) $10.95
(7) $11.95; (8) $12.95; (9)$13.95 (10)$15.95 (15)$19.95
I am also for hire if anyone wants me to read my work and answer questions in the Chicago/Milwaukee area. Schools should call me for quantity discounts for 30 or more books. Also: businesses, bookstores, private organizations or churches and so on.
My Fighting Words Publishing Co. four original books, published between 2004 and 2007 are now out-of-print. I still have some left and will periodically offer them for sale on my new website.