Sukkovid – a poem by Katherine Orfinger

Sukkovid (Sukkot 2020)

God leaves us 
instructions—love one another,
celebrate and mourn together,
for when we are in fragments
in uncertain times
and in inconvenient places,
when all we can see 
are the jagged edges of a world still waiting
for redemption,
we must gaze skyward
and remember:
God’s world was left
unfinished by design.
Each fragmented soul
braided together like challah
completes another,
working in miraculous tandem.
God’s instructions, sometimes whispered,
“Keep and remember.”
Secure your hope
tightly in its hiding place,
for we celebrate
everything that grows.

Even hope.
Even you.
 

Katherine Orfinger is a writer, artist, and MFA candidate at Rosemont College. She holds a BA in English from Stetson University. Katherine’s work has appeared in Beyond Queer Words, Outrageous Fortune, You Might Need to Hear This, Touchstone, Aeolus, and others. Katherine draws inspiration from her Floridian hometown and Jewish faith. She currently resides in Pennsylvania.