A Literary Magazine in Support of the Jewish Community
Rosh Hashanah
In the days before the New Year,
my mother used to indulge
in a passion of cleaning.
She vacuumed and mopped.
She sprayed, and she dusted.
She soaped, and she rinsed.
She even used Easy-Off on the oven
and let it bubble and froth with the built-up accumulation of grease
so that when she wiped it off, the blue enamel emerged, smooth and perfect.
I used to laugh about it:
Does God really care that you have a clean oven?
But perhaps I was wrong.
We all need a fresh start,
even our inanimate objects.
How else can you cook a brisket
as if it is the first brisket you've ever prepared—
a sinless brisket, with
no half-baked potatoes,
no overcooked carrots—
the gravy pristine and free of fat?
How else can you bake a cake
so that it will rise to heaven
with freedom and delight?
You need to wipe the oven clean
and start again,
unencumbered by last year's mistakes.
Roberta Eve Tovey
Roberta Eve Tovey, PhD, is an editor and published author in the fields of mental health, education, business, and the environment. In a former life, she was an assistant professor at Clark University; today, she is director of communications and operations in the psychology department at a large Boston hospital. She has spoken and written about living with depression on TV and radio, as well as in online and print publications and blogs, and is the daughter of Holocaust survivors. Dr. Tovey received her bachelor’s degree with highest honors at Brandeis University, and her doctorate in English literature from Princeton University. Her poetry has appeared in the Mizmor Anthology, The Jewish Writing Project, and Voices Israel.
