New Year Poem for 5781

Written by Rabbi Adam Chalom for the Jewish New Year of 5781/2020

What does it mean
To be “in person”?
Is it our body
on a map, in a building,
at a place?

Is that “in person”?
You can be
physically in person
and mentally wander
through imagination
into memory and
beyond walls.

“In person” must be more, and different.
Full presence,
focus and calm,
to think and to be.
We can be present
in person
from many places.

There is no one location to be
in agreement.
There is no one place to be
in love.
There is no one space to be
in touch.

Why should place
decree if we are
in person
or not?

Start the New Year
intent
introspective
insightful
inspired

and,
wherever you are,
in person.

Adam Chalom is the rabbi of Kol Hadash Humanistic Congregation in Deerfield, IL