Eliaz Cohen
Eliaz Cohen is a well known Israeli poet, editor of the "Mashiv Haruach" magazine and leader of the "Eretz Lekulam" movement. He lives at Kibbutz Kfar Etzion.Kislev is the Hebrew month corresponding approximately to December. During Kislev the portions of the Torah relating the stories of the Hebrew Patriarchs who spent their days in the Mount Hevron region are read in the synagogue. The poet, who lives in this region as well, sees the image of the three Patriarchs in the lives of his Arab neighbors, especially during the olive harvest which takes place during Kislev: Abraham who set his tent in Hevron, Yitschak whose eyes were dim, Yaakov who limped after fighting the angel.
The 19th of Kislev is celebrated in Hassidic circles as the Festival of the Liberation of the Hassidic Master Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi from prison. He was incarcerated for fifty-three days after being falsely accused of treason.
It is also the anniversary of the death of the founder of the Kfar Haroeh Bnai Akiva Yeshiva High School and nationwide yeshiva high school network, Rabbi and poet Moshe Zvi Neriah, who would wake his students in the morning (Eliaz Cohen among them) with the "Yidelach" song.
On the way to Hevron we stopped
at a cave
the vines on the terrace above lay scattered and bare
and we took cover from the wicked wind
that passed over the land now
it was the harvest season then
and the old man was loading sack after sack of olives
black ones and green ones dripping bitter oil,
I was that night, craving.
In the mornings we would gather golden mushrooms
among the pines, advancing a bit,
we climbed the ancient trees sometimes
how many adventures they have had, we
too became branches
again at night harvested to
the olive press, in the cave.
A second old man, dim-eyed, groping with a carob tree stick
sat with us for
days, or a decade, I knew not how long
until he disappeared
Day by day, adorned with worn tefillin at sunrise
we would advance one step, and
retreat two
seeing figures of old men in the waxing moon
God is setting and rising again
the next day.
“Where are you, God” – we shouted
and echoes rolled through all the ravines.
At night we would go prophesying.
At times we felt very close to Him.
On the 19th of Kislev redeemed we circled
the cave
dancing we hovered detaching hard wet feet from
the rocks.
At night we were swallowed into the nooks of the cave
we slept so deeply when
at dawn winds sang to us in our ears
“Yidelach, yidelach, rise to serve your creator”
and we knew that our Rabbi
taught the winds to sing too
the land is deserted for lack of labor, and our mid-day loving
we did
in the ruined watchmen’s huts.
The oaks wept to us when we approached
the city
a third old man came into view
limping toward us
we saw him
and behold his skin was smooth as a young girl’s
and he was playing a reed flute carved from cane
and the sheep
were scattered in the wadi
like poteria.
Even when he came close to us
we could not explain how
the flute landed on our heads
releasing from each of us swarms,
swarms bearing a shofar and torches
we came
to conquer the inner palace and the temples.
Translation from the Hebrew: Larry Barak
The 19th of Kislev is celebrated in Hassidic circles as the Festival of the Liberation of the Hassidic Master Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi from prison. He was incarcerated for fifty-three days after being falsely accused of treason. It is also the anniversary of the death of the Rabbi and poet Moshe Zvi Neriah, who would wake his students in the morning (Eliaz Cohen among them) with the "Yidelach" song.