Poem of an End
– Prague, Czech Republic
Tisha Be-av and Tu Be-av 82 liftrat katan/August 2022
After Yehuda Amichai’s “Poem Without an End”
In a synagogue
they have made a Jewish museum.
The Torah scrolls and rabbi’s chair
are gone.
There are no children running through
the aisles
no elderly congregants
claim their regular seats.
In their place –
men with bare heads
and
women without much clothing
move about the sanctuary.
They have made a Jewish museum
in a synagogue.
Exhibit panels line the walls
where siddurim and ḥumashim.
would be shelved.
Instead of prayer and study
cameras snap,
cellphones sweep the room
for panoramic pictures,
and visitors pose
for ubiquitous selfies.
No more amen,
no more yehe sheme rabah,
no more shabbat derasha,
no more kiddush levana.
Come evening,
members of a local symphony orchestra
perform medleys to great applause
for culture-worshipers.
After fifty years
of fascists and communists
there are not enough Jews left
to fill the beautiful space
with devotion.
For what else can it be used?
A Jewish museum
in a synagogue
they have made.
The full moon wanes.
In a cemetery once
at a burial,
I heard a Jewish woman
say:
“The problem with the Orthodox
is they made Judaism into a religion.”
But in this building
I see the trouble
is
that others
have rendered the religion
into a memorial.