Thanks: A DC Poem

For U.S.A. chagim
We love July Fourth
Memorial Day’s meaning
And Labor Day’s worth
Veteran’s Day’s solemn
MLK Day’s inspiring
Columbus Day is about an explorer not tiring
But of all of these days
When our offices rest,
We all should agree
That Thanksgiving’s the best.

It’s the food
It’s the family
It’s an ancestral vision
Even though most of us
Aren’t related to Pilgrims
So with belly’s a-swollen
With victuals digestible
Here are some of the figures
That we thank at our table

We’re thankful for donors,
Volunteers and teachers,
Subscribers, new members
And fitness goal reachers.
We’re thankful for films
For Authorial speakers
For treadmill addicts
Who wear-out their sneakers.
We’re thankful for Circles,
Scott, Dupont and Logan
Thanks for the ‘hood
Someone named “Borderstan”

Of course we are thankful
for our partners, Federation.
For synagogue rabbis
And all congregations:
Like Bet Mish and Micah
DC Minyan and Adas
Wash-Hebrew and T.I.
With religious org status
Kesher, Sinai, Ohev
For the ‘gogue on Sixth Street
Rosh Pina and wherever more than
10 Jews can meet

Thank you Vince Gray
And to the government of DC
From our rep Jack Evans
To our local ANC.
For the folks on the Hill,
Boehner, Cantor and Reid,
It not just thanks
But a deal that you need.
Once the debt deal is done
Or before if you’re open,
Thanks, please give a vote
To Eleanor Holmes Norton.

Thanks for Obama,
And Mitt and Newt too,
We’ll see who’s most thankful
In Twenty, One-Two.
And Occupy K Street
And Tea Party Nation
And David Petraeus
And Alex Ovechkin.

Thanks to the Nats,
The Skins and the Caps
The Wizards get thanks
When the lockout gets scrapped.
So thanks to Rex Grossman,
Davey Johnson, Mike Rizzo
The Shanahan clan,
And bald Bruce Boudreau.

Thanks Michael Kaiser
A toast to Todd Gray
Thanks Reggie Love,
Who is going away.
Thanks City Paper and
The Post’s Reliable Source
Thanks weather-guy Bob Ryan
And Nat’s Slugger Mike Morse.

Thanks Wale, thanks Kojo
Thanks Hilda Solis
Thanks Justice Kagan
And the Metro Police.
Thanks Dr. Jill Biden,
And George Pelecanos,
Thanks Ezra Klein
Welcome home Wilson Ramos.

Give thanks for the thanks
That you know that you’re due.
Give thanks for the J
Cause we give thanks for you.

What We’re Listening To: Jews and the Civil War

It’s 150 years after the end of the Civil War and we still struggle with our neighbors about what it means to be American. We argue over what it means to act appropriately patriotic, to act as a proud citizen.

We are much closer to the Civil War than we may like to think, with a Presidential candidate threatening that his state will secede – and gaining supporters because of that threat. Now, just as then, Jews are found on all sides of the political spectrum, and as we get closer to the next election, these divisions become deeper.

Did we join the Occupy Judaism part of the Occupy Wall Street Movement, and put up a sukkah in Zucotti Park? Or did we make sure to get on the mailing list for the Jewish Tea Party?

Faith has long been a reason to get involved in politics – tzedek, tzedek, tirdof (justice, justice shall you pursue) is the rallying cry of many Jewish groups, not just one side. 150 years ago, what did we think was justice, and where did we all end up?

Tonight is the opening night for the Hyman S. & Freda Bernstein Jewish Literary Festival, and the theme is United By Faith, Divided By War: Jews and the Civil War. A series of dramatic readings will recreate the participation of Jews in the Civil War, from statesmen to spies – spies like Eugenia Levy, “a fire-eating secessionist in skirts.”

No, really, there was an incredible amount of Jewish participation; listen to Kojo Nnamdi at 12:30 today on NPR to hear about it, and then see it come to life on stage at the opening tonight.

Because the Civil War’s echoes are still happening all around us.