A poem for October 7
october 7 mourning in furyBy Menachem Z. Rosensaft
Ariel Zohar at the funeral for his parents and sisters, Oct. 17, 2023. Photo by Yehoshua Yosef.
we mourn
not in sorrow but in fury
for jewish children
savagely murdered
by hamas fathers of children
we mourn
not in sorrow but in fury
at the wanton viciousness
of the hamas predators
palestinian islamic jihad predators
who laughed as they raped
tortured
jewish women
before slitting their throats
we mourn
not in sorrow but in fury
for parents
grandparents
sisters
brothers
lovers
friends
neighbors
strangers
soldiers
engulfed
in the simhat torah
apocalypse
we mourn
not in sorrow but in fury
at cynical politicians
who left elderly men and women
in wheelchairs
infants in strollers
teenagers at a music festival
unprotected
for the sake of a few more votes
from west bank settlers
and now find excuse
after excuse
not to redeem hostages
from captivity
we mourn
not in sorrow but in fury
at the soulless demonstrators
across the globe
who glorify
evil
identify with
evil
want to see more jews
slaughtered
for the sake of
evil
this does not mean
that we do not grieve for
feel the pain of
palestinian women
children
non-hamas men
killed
displaced
suffering
in the gaza war
but today we mourn
not in sorrow but in fury
for those who were ripped from us
for all that was ripped from us
for shadowed faces
we see
must continue to see
must not allow to fade
not today
not tomorrow
not ever
Menachem Z. Rosensaft is adjunct professor of law at Cornell Law School, lecturer-in-law at Columbia Law School, and General Counsel Emeritus of the World Jewish Congress. He is the author of the forthcoming Burning Psalms: Confronting Adonai after Auschwitz (Ben Yehuda Press, 2025).
