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How Israel built its most talented baseball roster ever for the 2023 World Baseball Classic
MIAMI (JTA) — As Team Israel celebrated its victory over Nicaragua Sunday afternoon in its opening game of the 2023 World Baseball Classic, there was proof up and down the lineup card of a months-long recruitment process that brought together a slew of major league talent.
There was manager Ian Kinsler, a 14-year MLB veteran and four-time All-Star. Big league pitchers Dean Kremer, who started the game, plus Richard Bleier and Zack Weiss. All-Star slugger Joc Pederson, and major league catcher Garrett Stubbs, who drove in the winning run.
For Kinsler, who played a central role in putting the roster together, the victory served as validation — even if he didn’t know what some of the players actually looked like until they arrived in Miami.
“Knowing the names, and then finally seeing all the faces and everybody coming together and playing a good game yesterday was very rewarding,” Kinsler said Monday. “It was a lot of fun.”
Pulling the team together took a combination of personal cajoling, a widely respected manager, Jewish geography and an effort to tap — and ignite — the sometimes embryonic Jewish identities of players who hadn’t given much thought to how their Jewish roots and baseball prowess might be combined.
“There’s quite a few guys who really want to help Israel and feel Jewish and buy into it,” Team Israel general manager Peter Kurz told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “We evolve towards those players more — a player who says that he’s been to Israel, or that he’s connected to Israel. We definitely like to keep more than a player who was not connected at all, even though we try to go for the best athletes.”
The journey to assemble Team Israel, a 30-man roster composed largely of American Jewish ballplayers, half of whom have MLB experience, actually began back in 2021.
While playing for Israel’s 2020 Olympic team, Kinsler had conversations with Kurz and Israel Association of Baseball president Jordy Alter about managing the team in 2023.
“Once I developed the relationship with those two in the Olympics, it was a pretty easy decision,” Kinsler told JTA prior to the WBC. Kinsler had never managed a team before, at any level.
After he took the helm last June, Kinsler took a lead role in the team’s recruitment, working off a preliminary list of 50 players who were eligible to play for the team — meaning they were Jewish themselves, or the child or the grandchild of a Jew or married to one, and thus eligible for Israeli citizenship.
Kurz said Kinsler’s reputation around baseball was a key factor in offering him the job.
“There’s no doubt that Ian is one of the most respectable Jewish players that’s ever played the game before,” he said. “People respect him and they look up to him. Having experienced being in Israel twice, and playing for us in the Olympics, it just gives him that much more legitimization to talk to these players and ask them to come play for Team Israel.”
Kinsler is not the WBC’s only inexperienced manager who was chosen in part as a draw for players. Former players Mark DeRosa (United States), Mike Piazza (Italy) and Yadier Molina (Puerto Rico) are all managing, and Nelson Cruz is both a player on the Dominican Republic team and its general manager.
Ian Kinsler played for Team Israel at the Olympics in Tokyo after 14 MLB seasons. (Courtesy of JNF-USA)
As Kinsler began his recruitment, his first call was to Joc Pederson.
“It’s been an awesome experience,” Pederson told JTA. “I really enjoyed my time last time I played [in the 2012 WBC qualifier], and I wanted to do that again. Great group of guys.”
From there, Kurz said, he and Kinsler went down the list of Jewish major leaguers, calling each one to gauge their interest in representing Israel in the World Cup-style tournament. Given the timing of the WBC — just weeks before Major League Baseball’s Opening Day — it was largely a conversation about logistics.
“I think it wasn’t really necessarily the conversation about ‘Are you Jewish?’ Or ‘Are you eligible to play for Team Israel,’” Kinsler explained. “I think it was more of a conversation of ‘do you want to participate?’”
Pederson, who texted fellow big league players like Houston Astros star Alex Bregman and Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Rowdy Tellez (who is playing for Mexico), said health concerns and having enough time to get ready for the season were factors. New York Yankees players Harrison Bader and Scott Effross dropped out because of injuries.
And why did Pederson want to help recruit? It’s simple: “Because I like winning, and I want to win,” he said.
Israel hoped that having big-name players like Kinsler and Pederson lead the outreach efforts would pay off. While some of the game’s top Jewish stars ultimately did not join the team — namely Bregman and Atlanta Braves ace Max Fried — their work was far from fruitless, as this roster boasts the most major league experience Israel has ever had.
“I tried to get Peter to hold off as long as he could, so I could be the first one to get in touch with people,” Kinsler said. “Because I do think it helps hearing from a player.”
When making his calls, Kinsler said he shared his experience playing in the 2017 WBC with the U.S. team, plus “what kind of environment we’re trying to create for Israeli baseball.”
While navigating spring training schedules and injuries is certainly part of it, Kurz said there were many players who were excited for the opportunity to wear Israel across their jersey.
One of those players is Baltimore Orioles pitcher Dean Kremer, who was the first Israeli to be drafted into the MLB. Kremer, whose parents are Israeli, was born and raised in California, but has spent time living in Israel.
Dean Kremer pitches against Nicaragua in Israel’s first game of the 2023 World Baseball Classic, March 12, 2023, in Miami. (Courtesy Team Israel)
“Playing for Team Israel, anytime I get to put on that uniform is special for me,” Kremer said after pitching in Israel’s victory over Nicaragua. “It’s like another home. So every time I get to represent it’s one of the better feelings.”
Pederson added that the whole team “feels extremely proud.”
Ryan Lavarnway, a veteran catcher who has also played for Israel since 2017 and is seen as one of its leaders, has been vocal about how much it means to him to suit up for Israel.
“Playing for this team is super meaningful to me,” Lavarnway said after Israel’s exhibition game against the Miami Marlins. “It’s been really life changing. And I hope that this next generation of players that are new to this team takes the baton, and it means as much to them as it’s meant to us.”
One of those younger players is Toronto Blue Jays prospect Spencer Horwitz.
“Coming into this, I didn’t know what to really expect, this being my first time playing for Team Israel,” Horwitz said. “It’s living up to everything that people are saying. That environment we were just in was definitely electric.”
With reports of antisemitism on the rise in the United States, Kurz said players are more inclined to publicly identify as Jewish.
“I think a lot of these players feel, even more so, that they have to identify as being Jewish. Nobody’s trying to hide that at all,” he said.
Kurz added that Israel had an easier time recruiting top talent for the 2023 roster than in previous years, for a few reasons.
First, he said, both Team Israel and the WBC itself have gained in prominence over the past decade. For Israel, a surprising run in the 2017 WBC helped put Israeli baseball on the map, garnering excitement among both fans and potential players. And the WBC itself has grown more popular in the United States and around the world, with superstar players such as Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout suiting up for their ancestral countries, and MLB devoting more resources to marketing the tournament.
Geography also played a role. With most of the games being played in Miami, that allowed MLB players to more easily participate, as half the league has spring training in Florida.
When trying to discover Jewish players, there’s a certain element of word-of-mouth Jewish geography that comes into play, too. No player encapsulates that better than Ty Kelly.
“It’s easy to get the Cohens and the Levys. It’s more difficult to get the Ty Kellys,” Kurz said.
Ty Kelly bats during Israel’s exhibition game against the Miami Marlins, March 8, 2023 in Jupiter, Florida. (Emma Sharon/MLB)
Kurz recalled that about seven years ago, he heard from someone on Long Island who had taken his kids to a minor league game. Kelly was signing autographs and spotted the kids’ kippahs and told them he was Jewish. They told their father, who in turn told Kurz.
“And the rest was history,” Kurz said. Kelly, who has played for Israel since the 2017 WBC, has become another one of the team’s leaders. After this WBC, he will begin his coaching career in the Seattle Mariners organization.
The WBC’s eligibility rules also allowed Israel some flexibility in recruiting. Outfielder Alex Dickerson, for example, is not Jewish, but his wife is.
“This is about creating the best team possible within the rules,” Kinsler said.
Creating the best team also meant creating a strong coaching staff.
Kinsler recruited former Israel manager Brad Ausmus, who was Kinsler’s manager in the big leagues, and former All-Star and fan favorite Kevin Youkilis, the former Boston Red Sox first baseman.
“It was easy,” Youkilis said of his decision to join the team. “Being part of this is part of my heritage, part of growing up Jewish and being bar mitzvahed and all that. It was an easy yes.”
Youkilis, who retired in 2014, said coaching full-time isn’t in the cards for him, but he’s enjoying the experience right now.
“It’s remarkable how good a talent we have, a collective Jewish group of ballplayers that when I was growing up probably wasn’t that strong,” he said. “It’s good to see the next generation of ballplayers, and to be a coach, and to witness it and be around and help guys.”
While this team, and its coaches, is largely a group of American Jews, the uniform says Israel. Even with the fraught political climate in Israel, which is experiencing an uptick in violence and widespread protests over the country’s far-right government and its controversial judicial proposals, both Kurz and Kinlser said politics were not a factor for any player.
“I don’t think in general athletes are too scared of those types of things,” Kinsler said.
Kurz added that leading up to the WBC, numerous players reached out to ask questions and gain a better understanding of the current situation in Israel. But nobody expressed hesitation about identifying with the country. (There have not been protests or anti-Israel demonstrations, as there have been at times in the past when Team Israel plays in the United States and abroad.)
“They’re definitely interested, they want to know what’s going on,” Kurz said. “They want to know who they’re playing for.”
Kelly, who was part of those types of discussions in the clubhouse with the Olympic team, said the players are keeping an eye on the news, but they haven’t had many conversations about it yet.
“I think it’s sort of the nature of the team, having a lot of new guys and people not really knowing what their roles are supposed to be, as far as talking about that stuff, or what their opinions are supposed to be,” Kelly said. “I think that happens as guys get to know each other more.”
Building camaraderie was also a priority for the team. Prior to the tournament, Israel held a private screening of the new documentary “Israel Swings for Gold,” which followed the team’s Olympic experience in Tokyo.
Kinsler said that while the event was not mandatory, he encouraged players to attend.
“I think that’ll be a great bonding experience for us, and something that other teams don’t really have the luxury of using as motivation or bringing togetherness,” Kinsler said beforehand. “That could be an advantage for us.”
And with a tough draw in Pool D, which pits Israel against top teams including the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Puerto Rico, Israel will need any advantage it can get.
But Israel is no stranger to being the underdog. In fact, the team relishes it.
“We’re certainly the David against the Goliath of the baseball world. But you know, we love it,” Kurz said.
—
The post How Israel built its most talented baseball roster ever for the 2023 World Baseball Classic appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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French Court Cuts Sentence for Teen in Antisemitic Gang Rape of 12-Year-Old Jewish Girl
France, Paris, 20/06/2024. Gathering at place de la Bastille after the anti Semitic rape of a 12 year old girl in Courbevoie. Photography by Myriam Tirler / Hans Lucas.
More than a year after the brutal gang rape of a 12-year-old Jewish girl, a French court has dramatically reduced the sentence of one of the two teenagers convicted in the attack, citing his “need to prepare for future reintegration.”
On Tuesday, the Versailles Court of Appeal retried one of the convicted boys — the only one to challenge his sentence — behind closed doors, ultimately reducing his term from nine to seven years and imposing an educational measure, the French news outlet Le Parisien reported.
“The court took into account the entire case as provided for by law: the facts, their seriousness, but also the personality of the minor and the need to prepare for future reintegration,” the boy’s lawyer Melody Blanc said in a statement.
The original sentences, handed down in June, gave the two boys — who were 13 years old at the time of the incident — seven and nine years in prison, respectively, after they were convicted on charges of group rape, physical violence, and death threats aggravated by antisemitic hatred.
The third boy involved in the attack, the girl’s ex-boyfriend, was accused of threatening her and orchestrating the attack, also motivated by racist prejudice.
Because the girl’s ex-boyfriend was under 13 at the time of the attack, he did not face prison and was instead sentenced to five years in an educational facility.
The lawyers of the victim, Muriel Ouaknine-Melki and Oudy Bloch, praised “the courage of [their] client” for confronting her attackers and ensuring that two of them were imprisoned.
According to police reports from the time, the two French boys cornered the girl on June 15, 2024, inside an empty building in Courbevoie, a northwestern suburb of Paris, questioned her about her Jewish identity, and then physically assaulted and raped her.
The assailants who were Muslim also allegedly called the victim a “dirty Jew” and uttered other antisemitic remarks during the brutal gang-rape.
Under threat of death, she was forced to perform penetrative and oral sex on two of the boys, while her ex-boyfriend threatened to burn her cheek with a lighter and attempted to make her sit on her handbag, which he had set ablaze.
Local reports indicate that part of the assault was recorded, and at least one assailant allegedly demanded 200 euros from the girl to withhold the footage, which was eventually circulated.
The ex-boyfriend sent footage of the assault to a boy the girl had gone out with that afternoon, with the message “Look at your chick,” according to law enforcement. After receiving such a message, the boy informed the girl’s family, who found her an hour after the attack.
“Before letting her leave, they made her swear on Allah not to say anything and that she should not tell anyone, neither her parents nor the police,” the girl’s mother told Le Parisien at the time.
The three-day trial, held behind closed doors, took place in a regional juvenile court in Nanterre, a suburb west of Paris.
During the proceedings, the judge explained that the severity of the sentence came “in view of their concerning personality traits and the immense social disturbance.”
“There is no doubt that [the victim] would not have been assaulted or raped if she had not been Jewish,” the judge said at the time.
The brutal crime sparked outrage throughout France and among the Jewish community, unfolding against the backdrop of a disturbing surge in antisemitism that has gripped the country since the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
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Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa says he wants to play an NFL game in Jerusalem
(JTA) — The phrase “Next year in Jerusalem” is customarily spoken at the end of the Passover seder. But this past weekend its sentiment was conveyed at the end of a different kind of gathering: a low-scoring NFL game between the Miami Dolphins and Washington Commanders.
“Shoot, it’d be pretty cool to go play in Jerusalem,” Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa said postgame.
The game — which the Dolphins won 16-13 in overtime — was the NFL’s first in Spain, as part of a growing international series that’s seen contests played in England, Germany, Brazil, Ireland and Mexico.
Tagovailoa, a Christian, was asked where else he’d like to play after experiencing Madrid and previously Frankfurt, Germany. And his answer caught the eye of a high-ranking diplomat: Mike Huckabee, the United States Ambassador to Israel.
“Tua is right,” Huckabee wrote on X. “Bringing an NFL game to Israel is a great idea. Next year in Jerusalem…I like the sound of that.”
The suggestion comes amid an increasingly contested role for Israel as a host in global sporting events. EuroLeague basketball is supposed to return next month, and officials from the league are in Israel now to assess conditions before finalizing the plan.
Soccer, too, has been a fraught space for Israeli participation. The Union of European Football Associations had been set to vote on suspending Israel but paused the process after the ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza that began last month. Some want the organization to return to the deliberations, with Ireland’s soccer federation submitting a motion earlier this month to ban Israel from all UEFA competition for “organising clubs in occupied Palestinian territories without the consent of the Palestinian FA” and “the alleged failure of the IFA [Israel Football Association] to enforce an effective anti-racism policy.”
Tagovailoa’s comments on playing in Israel did not mark the first time speaking about the country during a postgame media availability. Following a home game on Oct. 15, 2023, Tagovailoa paused the press conference to talk about Hamas’ attack on Israel, which had taken place just over a week earlier.
“I didn’t really realize how bad things were in Israel,” Tagovailoa said. “And just wanted to bring to the attention for those who don’t necessarily understand things that are going on, that it really is bad.”
He added, “I don’t know what we’ve come to, but just my thoughts, my prayers are out with those people in Israel,” continuing on to note that there is “also the Ukraine and Russia war still going on as well.”
There has been no indication from the NFL about a potential game in Israel, though Robert Kraft — the American billionaire owner of the New England Patriots, who is Jewish and founded the Blue Square Alliance against Hate, formerly called the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism — sponsored the construction of the Kraft Family Sports Campus in Jerusalem, which includes an American football field. The adjacent park, Gan Sacher, is routinely home to informal football and flag football games.
Meanwhile, the capacity of Jerusalem’s largest stadium, Teddy Stadium, is just 31,000. Attendance at the NFL’s international games have ranged from upwards of 86,000 to, at their lowest, 47,000.
The post Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa says he wants to play an NFL game in Jerusalem appeared first on The Forward.
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‘Pure Astonishment’ and other new Yiddish poems
דער פּאָעט באָריס קאַרלאָוו (פּעננאָמען פֿונעם ייִדיש־פּראָפֿעסאָר דובֿ־בער קערלער) ברענגט דאָ אַ קראַנץ נײַ־געשאַפֿענע לידער אויף פֿאַרשידענע טעמעס — די נאַטור, ארץ־ישׂראל, אַפֿילו „איי־אײַ“. לייענט און האָט הנאה! [רעד׳]
הוילער וווּנדער
ס׳איז אַוודאי שווער צו זאָגן
וועמען האָסטו מערער ליב:
צי דעם פֿרילינג ערבֿ טאָגן,
צי דעם אָסיען שאַרלעך טריב?
און אַפֿילו גרינעם זומער
האָסט אַוודאי גאָרניט פֿײַנט,
און מיט ווינטערדיקן קומער
גרייט ביסט אויכעט ווערן פֿרײַנד…
ס׳איז אוודאי שווער באַשליסן:
וועמען האָסטו מערער האָלט
צי דעם רעגן וואָס טוט גיסן
צי די זון מיט איר ריין גאָלד?
איינס איז קלאָר אַז אַלץ – באַזונדער,
צי אינאיינעם – הוילער וווּנדער!
*
דין־וחשבון
אַרײַנגעקוקט האָב איך אין מײַן עזבֿון
ווי ס׳קוקט אין סוכּהלע אַמאָל אַרײַן אַ יוון
און ניט געווען בכּוח תּופֿס זײַן גענויער
ווי ס׳הייבט זיך אָן דאָרט הימל
און וווּ ס׳עקט זיך רויערד
אַ הון קוקט אין בני־אָדם מעשׂה־אינדיק
און אויך מײַן קוק איז לעכערלעך און זינדיק
אַקעגן מײַנע שורהלעכס שיריים
וואָס פּיקן קרישקעס ערד
ניט שפּירנדיק שמיים
שמיים — דאָרט איז וואַסער, זאָגט מען,
סאַמע מים־חיים…
צו אַלדי רוחות! הילכט דעם טאַטנס זאָג עד־היום
פֿון יענע וואַסערדיקע הייכן וואָס באַגרינדן
דעם שטילן עכאָדיקן שמייכל
בײַסיק לינדן.
*
למען היושר
ייִדיש, ייִדיש תּרדוף
און ווען טוסט עס דעריאָגן
קריגסטו באַלד אַדעראויף
פֿון טיף ייִדישע יאָגן
און זיי זאָגן אַזוי
ניט אין רו פֿון נירוואַנע
זאָלסט דערגרייכן צום בלוי
וואָס ער טוט דיך מהנה
צו אַנטדעקן אַ וועלט
מיט פֿאַרשידענע וועלטן
נאָר דורך יאָגן צעהעלט
צווישן בענטשן און שעלטן
צווישן ברכה און בראָך
מיט אַ הייסער נשמה
איבער ווידער און נאָך
יעדער טראַף – שם און נאָמען.
*
סוף גאָטס פֿרײַטיק
ווען אומרו זיך צום סוף באַרויִקט
און ס׳ווערן אײַנגעשטילט די ברואים
נעם זינגען הלל קרועה־בלוע
פֿאַר דעם באַשעפֿערלס ישועה
פֿאַר דעם באַשעפֿערס גרויסע חסדים
און פֿאַר דעם שעפֿערס אַלטע בגדים
און ווען דער הלל זיך באַגרעניצט
מיט דעם באַשעפֿערס שטילן געניץ
מיט דעם באַשעפֿערלס אַ שמייכל
גראָד ווען דעם שעפֿער דאַרט דער שׂכל
פֿאַרגעס ניט אָפּבענטשן דעם גומל
באַג(ר)יסנדיק דעם גאַסט מיט בוימל
*
לידער מיט ארץ־ישראל
(Singing with Israel)
א.
ס׳איז אַוודאי זייער פּשוט
זאָגן — אַלץ איז שווער און קשה
אַז די וועלט ווערט באַלד פֿאַרברענט,
אַז מע הייבט שוין אויף די הענט,
אַז די האָפֿענונג שוין גוססט,
לעצטע כּוחות גייען אויסעט…
דאָך פֿונדעסטוועגן, מײַן חבֿר,
אַלע ווייסן דו ביסט בראַווער
פֿון די גרעסטע דרייסטסטע ריזן
אַלץ וואָס דו האָסט ניט באַוויזן
וועסט נאָך ניסימדיק באַווײַזן
ווײַל ביסט שטאַרקער נאָך פֿון אײַזן
און ביסט גיכער פֿון אי־מייל
גבֿורות־ישׂראל־מי־ימלל
ב.
די נשמה זינגט און ווייטיקט
נאָר איר ליד קלינגט אײַזן־שטאָל.
טיף געטראָפֿן, שווער באַליידיקט
זינגט זי דאָך מיט ארץ־ישׂראל –
ווידער פֿעלדער אירע גרינע
שטאַרק צעבלוטיקט נאָך אַמאָל…
נאָר די גרוילן באַלד אַנטרינען
ליכטיק ט׳ווערן באַרג און טאָל,
ווײַל דאָס ליד מיט האַרץ טוט שטימען,
דאָס געזאַנג – מיט ארץ־ישׂראל
*
וווּ לעבט אײַ־אײַ־אײַ?
כ׳האָב געפֿרעגט בײַם איי‐אײַ
וווּ עס לעבט אײַ‐אײַ‐אײַ
האָט ער גלײַך מיר געזאָגט
וווּ דער אײַ‐אײַ‐אײַ טאָגט
בלויז פֿאַרשוויגן פֿאַרדעכטיק
וווּ דער אײַ‐אײַ‐אײַ נעכטיקט
כ׳טו אַ שרײַ: דו, איי‐אײַ,
ביסט אַ שטיק שאַלאַפּײַ,
זאָג מיר גיך, כ׳מאָן מיט רעכט,
וווּ פֿאַרברענגט ער די נעכט?
ס׳טוט אָ זאָג דער איי‐אײַ:
אײַ‐אײַ‐אײַ פֿליט פֿאַרבײַ
איבער קלאַנג וואָס ווערט שטום
דאָרט וווּ ס׳דרעמלט די זון.
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נײַע קלאַנגען
ס׳נעמען קלינגען העראַקליטיש
און היברידיש — נײַע קלאַנגען
און מע זאָגט: ס׳האָט מאַמע ייִדיש
יונגע הערצער שטאַרק געפֿאַנגען
און דו פֿרעגסט זיך: טאַקע ייִדיש?!
פֿרעגסט זיך אָן אַ שמץ באַנג און
ווערסט געפּלעפֿטערהייט פֿאַרחידושט
פֿון דעם קלעזמערישן טאַנגאָ –
כּלל ניט פֿאָטעריש, ניט מאַמיש,
ניט קיין היימיש לשון־קודש
אויך ניט חוצפּהדיק דינאַמיש
צו דער וועלט אַ פֿרעכער ״הודו״?!
מילא, זאָל דאָס אויך זײַן ייִדיש
צי מיט גראַמען, צי אָן גראַמען
בעת אין טײַך קלינגט העראַקליטיש:
אוי, אַ וויי איז צו דער מאַמען!
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אַ לידל פֿונעם אַלטן גולם
כ’האָב אַרײַנגעקוקט אין סוואַרבע
און דורך תּיבות דאָרט דערזען
אַז דו וועסט צו מיר נאָך קומען,
ממש קומען ווען־ניט־ווען!
כ’האָב אַרויסגעכאַפּט אַ גמרא,
ברייט צעעפֿנט און וואָדען? –
וועסט צו מיר, שטייט דאָרט אַ סבֿרא,
ווידער קומען ווען־ניט־ווען!
כ’האָב גענומען הערן תּורה
פֿון דעם הייליקן בעל־שם
איז ער אויכעט מיך מעורר:
אַז אָט קומסטו ווען־ניט־ווען!
שטיי איך, שוין אַן אַלטער גולם,
שטאַרק צעטומלט און פֿאַרקלעמט:
זאָג, אויף דעם, צי יענעם עולם
וועסטו קומען ווען־ניט־ווען?
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אַצינדערט
אַצינדערט מעג מען זינגען שיר־השירים
אַזוי פֿיל מילדע לאַסקע רינט אין ווערטער
וואָס שטייען אויפֿעט שטײַף צו מילדקייט אירער
דער געטלעך פרײַער שכינה אויסגעקלערטער
פֿון מינדסטן פּגם און פֿלעקיקן חיסרון
אין ריינקייט אויסגעוואַשן, אויסגעבאָדן
ווען אַלץ וואָס מ׳מעג, וועלן די ווערטער טאָרן
מיט שבֿח צום איינציק לעבעדיקן אָדון
און ער, דער שבֿח, וועט שפּאַלטן שווערע הימלען
צום סאַמע האַרץ פֿון דופֿקדיקן לעבן
און וואַסערדיקער הייליקייטס געווימל
וועט צו דער ערד־און־באָדן פֿלײַסיק שטרעבן
געדענק און בענטש דאָס ליד פֿון אַלע לידער
און קוק אַוועק פֿון נישט וואָס אייביק נישטיקט
און ווען דײַן ווערטערגאַנג ווערט לויזער, מידער
און ס׳רינט אַוועק דער אַפּעטיט צום פֿרישטיק
דערמאָן זיך אין דעם חן פֿון גרויסן חסד
דערקוויק זיך מיט דערוואַכונג וואָס שטײַגט איבער
די אותיות צוויי פּיי נון טיף אויסגעטעסעט
אויף לוחות פֿון דײַן האַרץ ווי שאָטנס טריבע
און זינג און זאָג מיט האָפֿערדיקע קלאַנגען
צעוואַקלדיק דעם מיזמורס שטײַפֿע כּללים
מיט שטורעמדיקע דראַנגען און פאַֿרלאַנגען
צעשטערנדיק דער וועלטס הבֿל־הבֿלים
The post ‘Pure Astonishment’ and other new Yiddish poems appeared first on The Forward.