March winds are insistent.
Pushing us to Manhattan.
Where they blow off hats.
Whip up debris on streets.
Overturn receptacles, split open trash bags.
Rattle aluminum cans against fences.
Blow plastic bottles, typed papers.
Tossed out by students for mistakes.
Agitate remains of last autumn’s fallen leaves.
As well as naked branches of trees.
Whose young buds hold tight.
Bat about just opened daffodils, crocuses.
New petals squeezing stems.
Like children pressing mothers’ hands.
Pigeons flap down to fight over strewn cereal.
The world outside is noisy.
Sirens, horns, screeching brakes.
Counterpoints to wind.
So entrance to JTS confers relief.
Shedding coats, scarves, backpacks.
Finding the chapel.
Protector of silence.
Where our daughter would sing.
Hymns for Pesach.
A holiday soon upon us.
Where, in anticipation, she chants.
Alone and with choir.
Praising God for goodness.
Beseeching dew for plantings.
After rain ceased.
In this Nusach recital,
her voice, a gentle breeze,
lifting toward divine ears
on sacred melodies.
Lynn Benjamin
March 14, 2024
JTS is the Jewish Theological Seminary at Columbia University, New York.
Nusach refers to the text of a prayer service.