Rimonim: Ritual Poetry of Jewish Liberation

by Aurora Levins Morales

Rimonim is a richly woven tapestry of poetry meant for use. From a time of rupture and uncertainty, beloved movement poet Aurora Levins Morales brings us a prayer book for the street, for reconstituting the future through our gestures in the present. In these poems of devotion and protest, Levins Morales speaks across and through time with an undeniably prophetic voice. Written in collaboration with various communities looking to honor, unravel, and rebuild Jewish liturgies, Rimonim is a book of lyric in the most immediate sense—of poems that are meant to be read and sung. Rooted in tradition and flowering in the tumultuous present, these poems offer clarity, inspiration, and balm as we engage in the sacred work of human liberation, where joy meets justice.Ultimately, these forty-nine poems honor the forty-ninth year, when it was taught that everything in the land would begin anew, everything redistributed and freed, when the people would see that everything on this earth was “ready to wake and bloom / just under the skin of what is.”

Genres: Poetry, Judaism, Jewish

122 pages, Paperback

Published November 26, 2024

Reviews

[Michael Sasson · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

Xii. Prophecy doesn't predict the future. It reveals the present and predicts its consequences, demands action toward the greater good, so the future will reflect good choices in the now. As my brother says, it opens a window into the future we dream and lets the fresh air blow through.

Xiii A lot of people asked me to write this book, and I had to listen and then shed their needs, listen to other people’s hungers for the resonances that revealed my own. I had to dowse for my personal well, find my own place in the margins of our sacred texts to scribble my personal siddur. I had to commit to my worth and lie down only for rest and pleasure. I had to say Compromise? For what? I had to own the name of prophecy for what I do.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I skimmed through the press release from Ayin Press, I initially didn’t plan to ask for review copies of any of its new seasonal works because the books on my to-review piles seem to multiply on their own when I am not looking. However, there was a link to a poem from one of the books, which I couldn’t resist reading. And then rereading and thinking about it so much that I returned to the e-mail and asked for a copy of “Rimonim: Ritual Poetry of Jewish Liberation” by Aurora Levins Morales (Ayin Press in partnership with Palabrera Press). My first view of the book itself was a surprise. Most poetry books are small, but “Rimonim” is an impressive looking work: the book is 11 inches tall by 8 inches wide, and features artwork from eight artists.
See the rest of my review at https://www.thereportergroup.org/book...

[Adrian Shanker · Rating 5 out of 5]

beautiful collection of liberatory Jewish poetry!

“Around you, arsonists pour gasoline on tinder.
You do not smite. You don't avenge.
You fall, disintegrate, swell
with improbable buds, and leaf out
again.

We will fill our fists with peach pits,
with pine cones, with silvery seed
to plant between our ribs,
for when they buried us they didn't know
how we would spring back
how we would branch out,
how fire makes us germinate.”

[Jacqueline · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Oh, breath of life, come part my lips. Let justice be my song."

'Rimonim' truly is the most astonishing book of praise songs, poetry, and prayer. Full of rage and tenderness, marginalisation and belonging, hope and the call for justice. It is utterly beautiful, compelling, inspiring, and challenging in the best of ways. I read it on Kindle but will also be buying a physical copy so that catching sight of it can remind me of how it felt to read it. Just wonderful!

[Barbara]

I came to this after finding the poem/prayer V'ahavta, which still remains my favorite after reading the whole book.

When you inhale and when you exhale
breathe the possibility of another world
into the 37.2 trillion cells of your body
until it shines with hope.
Then imagine more.

[LauraLentz · Rating 5 out of 5]

beautiful poetry and prose

I am so entranced with Aurora’s writing, as a teacher, I am now including it in my curriculum. So happy to have found this woman.