By Rabbi Rachel Esserman

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. 
For Morales, everything is political and that includes religion. The poem “Summons,” which first caught my interest, is a call to action. Morales dreams of “ten thousand grandmothers / from the twelve hundred corners of the earth” who demand their descendants not wait for governments to solve the world’s problems, noting, “There are no leaders who dare to say / that every life is precious, so it will have to be us.” The author writes that she is waiting for her readers to join her in making the world a better place. 
Many of the author’s works focus on re-envisioning Jewish prayer. The book opens with “Evening Prayer,” in which Morales not only asks that she be allowed to “go into sleep as into the arms of a beloved,” but that, while she rests, others for whom it is still daytime continue her work of “the mending of life.” The readings on Sukkot and Passover offer different ways of viewing the holidays, in addition to featuring poems and essays that can be used during services and holiday rituals. Morales – whose heritage includes European Jews and ancestors from Puerto Rico (which she refers to as Boriken), Iberia and Africa – explores how these different influences affect her in the poem “Fence Posts.” She notes that “I am both Indigenous and settler, colonizer and colonized,” while also recognizing that all parts of her heritage have experienced oppression. 
Other poems that spoke to me include:
“Tea,” in which she calls the drink “my mother’s gift” and tells of how she finds comfort and happiness in the brewing of teas and herbs.
“The Edge,” which ponders at what point we will finally decide “that enough is enough.” She sees that moment as the time when we will put aside our daily tasks and protest a long list of societal ills, including “When one child too many was gunned down for breathing.”
“Edo’s Song,” which not only gives the wife of the biblical Lot a name, but notes that her being turned to salt means that she “was love made mineral.” 
“Racial Justice Invocation,” which talks about Jewish history and celebrates Jewish diversity. It features the beautiful and inspiring words, “we Jews are a garment of a thousand threads, a coat of twenty million colors, for the heart of the Jewish world lives equally in every Jew, and no one is exotic, and every one of us is Jewish enough, and however we travel through the world is a Jewish path.” 
“Rimonim” asks its readers to ponder different ways of viewing Jewish tradition. One does not have to completely agree with Morales in order to appreciate the beauty of her writing. But where she excels is in challenging our complacencies. Her writing adds richness to the Jewish world and her poems/writing could easily find their place in religious services and rituals.