When There Was Light

I always try to read Jewish poetry around the High Holidays: Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. These Days of Awe provide a rare opportunity for true reflection—the things you are proud of, the mistakes you made, the moments of joy, and those of sadness. Reading When There Was Light, Carlie Hoffman’s luminous 2023 collection from Four Way Books, at this particular time of year was a deeply moving experience. Her poems are glorious and subtle, slowly weaving the tapestry of her history as the granddaughter of Russian and Polish immigrants. Judaism is central to her family’s narrative, but any immigrant (or descendant of immigrants) can relate to their story. Coming from somewhere else, fleeing persecution, struggling to build a better life, losing loved ones far too soon, facing hatred for the way you look, the language you speak, the way you pray—all are part of the American experience, for we are a nation of immigrants. And, like many first- or second-generation Americans, Hoffman is overflowing with questions about her people’s past, desperate for a connection to their roots: “Will I ever stop / being angry for never hearing my family’s language?” And though she is often met with silence, she finds ways to make that silence beautiful. She writes:

“In every city, / every spit-shined field, / I hear the violent, ancient noise / of my family’s silence. The silence / shimmers. It is forged the way Earth’s magma / is made into glimmering rock. / This rock will furnish / the future’s room.”

&

“It’s like the sea, / how you can only continue, / through creation—hyacinth and earth— / depends on flesh, on the beginning / of grief. You see your image / within each horse’s frothing mane, / your lawless body a tree.”

Shana Tova, a happy and healthy new year to all who celebrate.

Note: This year, Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown on Wednesday, October 2nd, and ends at nightfall on Friday, October 4th. Yom Kippur begins at sundown on Friday, October 11th, and ends at nightfall on Saturday, October 12th.