Part 1:

The Chocolate Chip Bagel

In my four years of college, I have eaten a chocolate chip bagel at least five days every week. Most people would be disappointed. I order it plain, untoasted, no shmear or cream cheese or toppings of any sort. Most people might even go so far as to call me a freak. At times, I feel like I’m dishonoring my heritage – no lox, no capers?! (although to be honest, I’m not in New York and I’ll never really understand why someone would want to start their morning with fish breath) – but I’ve come to terms with it. 

In fact, it’s more than that. I think this is more important. The ladies who run the Einstein’s ship at the College of Charleston are the glue that holds my world together. At this point, I haven’t had to ask for two years. I walk in, I say good morning, and my bagel is ready. On Valentine’s Day last year, they had a bag of candy with my name on it. I had the biggest smile on my face for the rest of the day. 

It’s nice to be a regular, but what’s so special about these ladies is that they’ve seen me through all of my achievements. Checking in after a job interview or a big test, even on Yom Kippur, where I had to fast for 24 hours. They gave me a care package the day before with a dozen bagels to help me get super full before the fast began.

Although the interaction at Einstein’s normally only lasts about thirty seconds, it’s the small act of empathy and memory that is so fantastic.

Part 2:

Footnote to Howl by Allen Ginsberg 

My name is Michael Stein, and today I saw a statistic that over 1,000 Palestianians have been killed in the past week. One week since the ICJ’s ruling. And I was confused – what had changed in me? When this all began in October, I was pretty much a full Zionist. I always knew that I believed that Palestinian people had a right to live just like Jewish and Israeli people, but since I was a kid I have been taught over and over that Israel is home. But I haven’t been able to explicitly say that for myself. And then I saw that flyer.

[music: “Praise the Rain” by Gautam Srikishan]

Footnote to Howl:

I first read this poem after the entirety of Howl, tired and not understanding anything. But I soon became enamored with Ginsberg – because he was a poet who was Jewish, not a Jewish poet. I had never seen that before. 

I tried to understand what was going on. Holy is said 86 times in this poem. I was trying to figure out who was speaking and how and for what – but what I could tell… and more realistically, was hit over the head with, was that everything is holy. Ginsberg is begging the question: if everything is made by G-d, then what’s the difference in ‘holiness-levels’ between a bum and the middle class and even, forgive me, the “cocks of the grandfathers of Kansas”?

So what did this mean to Ginsberg, a noted revolutionary, faced with the issues of his time: Vietnam, Gay Rights, Imperialism. And what does it mean for us today? And what does it mean for American Jews? We can begin to understand by looking at line two; “The tongue and cock and / hand and asshole holy” – it’s a complete rejection of the accepted standard. He starts with the most immediate and at times intimate part of a human: their body. In rejecting the status quo and loving his body, including his genitalia that he writes about having gay sex with, Ginsberg acknowledges that there will be more to come, and that this is just the beginning. This once-revolutionary line has now become part of a self-love agenda that waters down the importance of re-framing the body, which, when it is anything other than white and straight, it is inherently political. In this Israel-Palestine war, we have begun to align Israeli people and Jews with white people – an interesting decision. Normally, Jews are treated as semi-white, but lower class. In this situation, the bodies of Palestinians have been decided by the media as Other.

Ginsberg continues, writing how everyone is equally holy, from the “madman” to the “seraphim,” which, in religious literature, are some of the highest-ranking angels. He aligns writing and poetry with angels, and shouts out how all of his peers and contemporaries are holy as well.  And then there’s the fantastic line:

“Holy the fifth / International holy the Angel in Moloch!” – here, he’s referencing the meetings of the Communist, Socialist, and Labor Parties. This battle in Israel-Palestine is one of ideology – with Israel acting as the shining beacon of oil-democracy-capitalism in the middle East, and Palestine as the Other. But that’s not how it works – Palestine and Hamas are different beings. Hamas, the ruling body that reigns over the country, seems to fully be a terrorist group. Invading Israel, torturing and raping civilians, and more. But the Palestinian people are a separate entity – the “Angel in Moloch!”

Moloch is a idol that G-d strictly warns against in Judaism, but Ginsberg, in the full poem Howl, uses Moloch to represent America as villain. I believe that in reading Footnote to Howl today, Moloch can be read as Hamas, and the Angel within is the people.

The poem moves to finish with an overall appeal to good things: “forgiveness! mercy! charity! faith!” and more. This poem, a powerful read and an experience to listen to, is such a reminder to ask ourselves what we know is right and holy, and that sometimes we must step back to re-evaluate our beliefs. I’ve re-centered my own beliefs and will personally make the statement here that I believe Israel is committing genocide, the utmost hypocrisy. There is much more to be said on this issue, but that is for another post.