Click here to read the PDF versionunmourned
If, as the Rabbis say,
each life has its significance,
so too its culmination
A tear, a murmur of longing,
even just a glimpse of a memory,
like the flicker of a lamp.
Often the trauma is great,
the rows of graves too daunting,
we choose to forsake remembrance in order to continue.
But memory shall return, perhaps now,
perhaps a generation on,
and we will sit before the unmourned
and pray to find the words.
Martin Herskovitz was born in the United States in 1955 to parents from Czechoslovakia, his mother a Holocaust survivor. He completed a B.A. in psychology at Yeshiva University and a master's degree in safety and occupational hygiene at New York University. In 1986, Martin, his wife, Pearl, and two sons, immigrated to Israel. Martin began writing poetry in an internet group of Second generation, in which he began to publish poetry about his second generation experiences. His poetry has appeared in Midstream and Maggid. He is active in encouraging innovative approaches to Holocaust remembrance – poetry, art, performances to ensure the continuation of the emotional connection to the issue of the Holocaust Remembrance. His goal is to transform the collective memory of the Holocaust to one that emphasizes mourning and less ideology.
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