‘How to Keep Counting’ surprised me. I’ve written several prayer-poems about counting days of our hostages’ captivity. I looked forward to writing about the end of counting. As we prepare – God willing, God willing – to celebrate their return, spiritually, there is so much more counting ahead, perhaps without masking tape. That will make counting more challenging. Thanks to Meir Charash for his consult on elements of the language.
How to Keep Counting
Rock of Israel,
With hope,
With anticipation that vibrates
In the air and in our beings,
We prepare to stop counting
The days of captivity
For hostages, living and dead.
The minutes, the hours
Of waiting for their homecoming
A clench in the throat,
A choke on the heart,
As we wait to rejoice
And to breathe once again.
Hallelujah.
In the name of blessing,
Teach us, Holy One,
How to keep counting
With love.
How to hold the exhilaration of this moment
With the certain knowledge
Of enduring suffering.
How to count so that we remember:
Every family reunited,
And every family bereaved.
Every life renewed by joy,
And every life lost by one’s own hand.
Every simcha and every yartziet,
Every question, God of Old,
That You refuse to answer
In heaven or on earth.
Every home reclaimed,
Every home devastated beyond repair.
Every family that finds healing,
And every family forever torn apart.
Every question, God of Old,
That You refuse to answer
In heaven or on earth.
May it be your will,
God of our ancestors,
God of our people,
That one day we might
Be free to count only
The moments and memories
Of delight and celebration.
On that day, Your Name
Will be One with Your people,
And surely peace will reign
In heaven and on earth.
Hallelujah.
© 2025 Alden Solovy and tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.
Postscript: Again, my thanks to Meir Charash for his consult. Use the icon below to download a PDF of all of my meditations on counting since 7 October 2023.
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Postscript: The research on the word that inspired this poem can be found in the book itself.
Please check out Enter These Gates: Meditations for the Days of Awe and These Words: Poetic Midrash on the Language of Torah and my other CCAR Press volumes: This Grateful Heart, This Joyous Soul, and This Precious Life, which can also be purchased as the Grateful/Joyous/Precious trilogy. For reprint permissions and usage guidelines, see “Share the Prayer!” To receive my latest prayers via email, please subscribe (on the home page). You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter. For a taste of my teaching, see my ELItalk video, “Falling in Love with Prayer.”
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Photo Source: Israel Foreign Ministry X post of Rachel Goldberg-Polin marking masking tape for 98 day.