Teen Poetry Contest Winner for 2002
Nat Sufrin
Sager Solomon Schechter Middle School, grade 8

Our Wise Rabbi

Rushed
neglected at arrival
fast, now
go! Kabbalas Shabbos

Rabbi makes an argument
we are strangers here
not residents
connecting through Abraham our father
as he was a stranger
in Machpelah

Parsha falls on election week
politics don’t matter here
the great rabbi said

How can I agree
when I see
how wrong and ignorant
the rabbi is
he doesn’t think so
I can tell
superior confidence is flowing
in his blood

Rabbi is our teacher
currently the system doesn’t work
in my eyes
I see