May 2007 (poem)

Accustomed as we are to prose
It might be novel, I suppose
To recast the odd newsletter
Into a form suited better
For the light and jovial tone
We have adopted as our own
Best of all it will be shorter
And, just to be obtuse, the last lines won't rhyme

Ari (aged nineteen), believe it or not
Is spending time in Sderot
With volunteers righteous and bold
Who play with the young and care for the old
They help in schools and do their best
To calm people's worries and lessen their stress
And every evening they lead a parade
Dancing and singing through the streets of the city

Elon is proving that hard work pays
Revising for tests on his way to straight A's
Mathematics and English and Jewish philosophy
And more maths and more maths with dashings of History
Yet somehow, and I still have not found out at all
He always finds time to play basketball
He joined a team - Elitzur Netanya
So while doing bagrut, he's always wearing basketball boots.

Naphtali plays drums, as mentioned before
We hear muffled thuds through an always-closed door
If he exits his room it's for dinner or lunch
(With his teenager appetite, there's also breakfast and brunch)
Next year for 10th grade he's changing his school
From the current nerd's place to somewhere more cool
It's a yeshiva special for musical kids
Called Kinor David, in the middle of nowhere

I'm giving Naphtali a bonanza
A well-deserved second stanza
The one thing that stops Naphtali's drum roll
Is work he does that is good for the soul
For hours a day he helps out at "Keren Or"
A fund that delivers food to the poor
Naphtali schleps and tidies and even paints walls
And we are very proud of him.

Orly is Orly, stable as rock
Moved on from Jazz dancing and now does Hip-Hop
She performs on stage for sisters and Mothers
(They don't let in the Daddies and brothers)
Her life is spiced with trips to the malls
Bnei Akiva and friends and telephone calls
No boys to check out yet (thank goodness for that)
We'll cross that bridge when we come to it

Abigail knows her letters from aleph to tav
As for the vowels, she's learnt about half
She likes dancing and singing and wearing pink dresses
And with Elisheva dressing up as princesses
She loves her gan and loves her ganenet
(The first of our children about whom we can say that)
Her go-easy nature endears her to all
Especially to Elisheva who is crazy about her

To describe Elisheva would require an epic
She's lovely and loving but makes our life hectic
She turns order to mayhem in a matter of minutes
If something is messy, be sure her hand's in it
She drops and she breaks and she spills, and we say
'If there's two minutes of quiet, there'll be a price to pay'
But we say, far more often, 'A little disorder
Is a small price to pay for such a delicious fun-loving baby'

This term Judy's teaching a course called Java A
(A logical tongue we may all speak one day)
She helps all the children with their lessons for school
And runs our big household and trips to the pool
'Multi-tasking' should be her middle name
(But we'll stick with Gail, if that's okay, all the same)
One unconquered challenge relates to her vice
How to stop eating Maltesers

Writing good poems is not something I sneeze on
I hate reading stuff with no rhyme and no rea-son
So I promised myself after one hour to stop
And just send it


(To be honest, it took more than an hour…)

Lots of love from
Judy, Michael,
Ari (19), Elon (16), Naphtali (14), Orly (12), Abigail (5) and Elisheva (2)
Isaacs
Elkana


Translation of Hebrew words
Bagrut = School graduation exams (like O- and A-levels)
Gan = Nursery school
Ganenet = nursery school teacher