Culture Corner

Matan Ring
Northwestern University

Tishrei has arrived,

The sweetness in the air melds in perfect harmony with the sensation of warmth.

All around me the pomegranates are about to burst –

And shower me with 613 delicious seeds.

A gleaming ruby seed,

For every commandment I try to uphold

For life,

For love,

For loyalty,

For loss,

And for faith.

A faith so strong that it endures the molten shackles of millennia,

It drills through me into my past, into a history before mine,

Taking me to a place of beginning.

Shofarot blow,

The sound surrounds me, enveloping me with the cries of angels,

And here I am,

Awaiting that drop of honey which will wash away my bitter faults,

And leave me purified for another new year.