אֵיךְ אֶשְׁאָל | Eikh esh’al (How can I ask?), a piyyuṭ responding to the war by Rabbi David Seidenberg (neohasid·org)

Contributor(s):

David Seidenberg

Shared on:

30 September 2025 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

Categories:

War

Tags:

2023-2025 Israel–Hamas war, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M.

DOWNLOAD: PDF

This piyyut (liturgical poem) is a response to what I think of as the second war with Gaza since October 7, the one started on March 18, 2025, when Israel broke the ceasefire. At that point it became clear that war was being driven not by the hostages or even by eliminating Hamas, but rather by Netanyahu’s coalition and its fascist members and elements eager to colonize Gaza. I am also responding to examples of the glee to destroy that accompanied some soldiers’ desire to punish all of Gaza, expressed in song, tik tok, etc., and the repeated declaration made by various Hardal rabbis that all of Gaza is Amalek, and the apparent careless way of that life gets taken by sniper and drone. I have put those feelings in the first person, in the spirit of all of us taking responsibility for any of our sins, as a community. What is real above all is the sin enumerated in the Syrian Vidui Hagadol: “Lo Bacharta Bachayyim, We did not choose Life.”

Note: this poem uses some piyyut forms that are not normal Hebrew, like “Artsakh” instead of “Artsekha” or “Beit” instead of “Bayit”. Also, the reference to the hostages here is “Asireha”, to echo the poem by Yehudah Halevi, “Tsiyon halo tish’ali lish’lom asirayikh”.

Source (Hebrew)	Translation (English)
אֵיךְ אֶשְׁאָל לְגַלֵּל הָחֶרְפָּה מֵעָלַי וְעֵדוּתֶיךָ לֹא נָצָרְתִי הֲסַּכִּין בְּיָדִי בְּעַדִי עֲדַיִין וְאֶדְרֹשׁ מְחִילָה מֵאֵת פִּיךָ לִי לְהַכּוֹת אֶגְרוֹף הַמְחָאָה בַּחֲזֶה, לְבַקֵּשׁ מֵעֵדִי בּוּז תָּסִיר מֵעָלַי	How can I ask that the disgrace be lifted from me, when I have not preserved Your testimonies? (Psalms 119:22) With the blade still in my hand, for my purpose, would I yet seek forgiveness from Your mouth for me? To strike with protesting fist upon my breast; to seek, from my Witness — “Lift the scorn from me.”
עַמְּךָ לְאַכְזָר כַּיְעֵנִים בַּמִּדְבָּר, מִגּוֹדֶל נֶזֶק הַמְּחָבְּלִים עָלַי כְּפוּל כְּפָלִים נָמְטִיר עֲלֵיהֶם כִּי קָטְלוּ הָאֵם שַׁד בְּפִי יְּנִיקָה אָז אָמַרְנוּ כְּמוֹ שֶׁעָשׂוּ לִי אָסוֹן, אֶעֱשֶׂה כֵּן גַּם אֲנֹכִי לָהֶם	The heads of your people were cruel, like cruel birds of the desert (Lam 3:4); for such great damage the terrorists wrought upon me: Double, redoubled I shall pour upon them, for they slew the mother, while breast nursed child – So we said: as was done to me, such calamity, so shall I do unto them. (Deut 12:30)
וְהֶרֶס הֵהָרֵס בֵּית וּבִנְיָן לְאָבָק, מַחְלָקָה וְרוֹפֵא, בְּאֹהָל פְּלִיטֵי פְּצָצָה כְּאִלוּ לִשְׁמֹעַ אוֹיְבַי כִּלָּם מִגְּרוֹנָם וְקוֹל צַעֲקָה שֶׁהֵרִים מִפִּיהֶם קוֹלֵינוּ קוֹל עֵשָׂו נֶעֶשָׂה לֵאמֹר מֵחֶטְאָם הָאָשָׁם עֲלוֹת, הוּא לֹא לָנוּ	Destruction — destroying house and building to dust, hospital ward and doctor, in tents those who fled the bombs. As if in order to hear, “my enemies finished them all” (Lam 2:22) from their throats, and a voice screaming out (Gen 27:34), rising from their mouths. Our voice has become the voice of Esau (Gen 27:22), saying: “from their sin rises the guilt — it is not ours.”
וְהֵיכִי לְשִׁמְךָ תֵּן כְּבוֹד חָסְדֶךָ וְכִי יְדֵי יַעֲקֹב חַרְבֵי בָּרְזֶל הֵעָשׂוּ הִגָלֶה וְרָפֵּא פְּצוּעֵי לִבָבֵנוּ שֶׁנְתָּקֵן עָמִים אֶת אָרְצָךְ עִם עוֹלְמֵנוּ אָז נִדְרֹש אֲסִירֶיהָ וּנְּבָקֵשׁ הַשָּׁלוֹם וְיַעֲלֶה בִּזְכוּת סְלִיחָתֵנוּ	Then how shall Your Name receive the glory of Your steadfast love (Psalms 115:1), when the hands of Jacob, becoming iron swords, have done all this? Reveal and heal the wounds of our hearts, that we all, the peoples, may restore Your land along with our world. So let us search out her captives and pursue Peace; by such merit, forgiveness for us may ascend.

Rabbi David Seidenberg’s piyyut “Eikh esh’al – How can I ask?” was first published on noehasid.org. For the piyyut with a transliteration (romanized Hebrew), find the PDF here.

Source(s)

Eikh eshal (How can I ask) Yom Kippur 5786 (David Seidenberg 2025)

David Seidenberg

Rabbi David Seidenberg, founder of NeoHasid.org, teaches text and music, Jewish thought and spirituality, in their own right and in relation to ecology and the environment. With smikhah (ordination) from the Jewish Theological Seminary and from Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, he has taught at over 100 synagogues, communities, retreats and conferences across North America (and a few in Europe and Israel). Rabbi Seidenberg's teaching empowers learners to become creators of Judaism through deep study and communion with texts and tradition. Areas of specialty include Kabbalah and Ḥasidut, Talmud, davenning, evolution and cosmology, sustainability, Maimonides, Buber, and more. Rabbi Seidenberg has published widely on ecology and Judaism and is the author of Kabbalah and Ecology: God's Image in the More-Than-Human World (Cambridge University Press, 2015).

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Gaza, drone view 4 March 2024

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