Israelis live as lovingly as they live charif. We self-styled settlers of hills and cities
Issue “little smiles” while we step toward acculturation in grand, spiritual manners.
Our arguments pout, spit, otherwise sing the dessert or sidewalks of the Holy Land.
Meanwhile, readers’ eyes, worldwide, board planes or not, wonder on our conduct.
As word players, we’re encouraged to show up at friends’ plain-spoken amusements,
Engage people, perfect or elsewise, to accompany our rejection of syncretic notions.
After all, persons that pickle civility with candor, “can’t possibly betray” rarified
Open-mindedness that exceeds “reasonable” restrictions, as prescribed by mass
Or convergent media. Thus, Jerusalem’s “best perceived” as a connective aperture.
Yet, veracity proves individuals as vastly accessible, so effortlessly compromised,
Thus, armed conflict, v’shalom, brings tears, fears, frightening nights, genuine
Fatalities, foul injuries. Armistices are Hashem’s, not ours; we’re ordinary soldiers.
Interpersonal bungling’s weighed as awful, sanctimonious verbiage, as formulae
Gone bad (ill sentiments not only bewilder our tribe, but also attract anti-Semites.)
Penultimate, they’re second just to the caustic remarks evincing cultural clumsiness.
Contrariwise, Old World, high-context, nonverbal-oriented communications cost
Neither great temporal outlays nor exorbitant fees, cull a willingness to incorporate
Decency indigenous to: limestone, ancient people, condemners of contemptibility.
When correspondents are careless in “correctly” understanding discourse, language
Patches together, releases, compartmentalizes, acknowledges the worst kinds of sin.
“Genocide” becomes, publicly, merely a display of “criminal misunderstanding.”
Discriminatory signifiers oblige ordinary men and women to encourage religious
Sorts to talk with The Boss, make aliyah, complete t’shuva, as well as to not rank
Families, nations, or other groups’ command of language coupled with intention.
Integrating the essential appeal to appreciate Eretz Yisrael, Am Yisrael, moreso,
Torah, costs. When embracing the possibility that these variables are wondrous,
There’s no room for warmongering, no place for prejudice, just supernal proofs.
