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The Synagoga Stara in Krakow |
The rituals are neatly detailed on cards
yellowed numbers cross-correlate to caged artifacts --
the fasting at Yom Kippur, sedar at Pesach,
noisemakers at Purim when Queen Esther --
you know the rest. If you don't
go to the museum, it is
not a house filled with families at prayer
like those at St. Mary's in Market Square
where signs say no photos, no talking
during mass, this is a holy
place. In this synagogue (from the Greek meaning
assembled) sepias unroll in the women's prayer area
showing where the assembled concentrated -- the numbers
there are always numbers. German
high school boys on holiday
stroll in their zippered jeans
smug on their cell phones but I don't care
I am staring at a photo on the wall.
It looks like my sister when she was four:
blonde curls, pleated skirt, her chubby cheeks in smiles
the prize for finding the afkomin at Pesach
and the question she asked
ma nish tana hileilah hazed*-- why?
*At the sedar on Pesach, the youngest asks "Why is this night different
from all other nights?"
copyright 2004
Thea
Iberall |
