Editor’s Note: Kerry Arquette’s book of poems, War Cries: Unheard Voices, Unmarked Graves is now available for pre-order here.

The Rabbi via artistkerryarquette.com

Ba-ruch a-ta, A-do-nai E-lo-hei-nu

I was a man of G-d,

Who rose with the words of the morning prayer on my lips.

“Mo-deh a-ni le-fa-ne-cha,”

And ended my days with thanks for Adonai’s blessings.

I was a man of G-d,

Who believed we would be delivered from our tormentors.

I clung to faith in our Creator and in mankind

Long after smoke began to rise from the death camps.

I was a man of G-d

Who knew of the pogroms, the Inquisition and Diaspora

But couldn’t believe, simply couldn’t believe,

That we, the Chosen, would be called upon to suffer more.

I was a man of G-d,

Who lacked the strength to face the truth,

And so I told those who turned to me in confusion and fear

To trust the very ones who led them to their deaths.

And now…

I am a man of G-d,

Who incants the Mourner’s Kaddish throughout eternity.

And my soul cries out to a G-d I believed in,

A G-d whom I failed, and a G-d who failed me.