I feel like a fraud
when I talk about God
............so I won't.

On The Night of Vows, 5758, I
wear white to schul, and canvas sneakers. Death, purity,
repentance. I leave the High Holiday machzor un-
opened on the seat beside me, preferring Ginsberg's
Yiddishe Kopf and Rich's Yom Kippur (with the stress
on the "kip," the Ashkenazy way), and which I've brought.

I still feel alone
when my praying is done,
............so I don't.

The congregation, (is membership belonging?) -- gay
and lesbian, bisexual and transgender Jews --
is "history", the famous lesbian rabbi tells
us: the largest gathering ever. (If we are one
in a minyan, there were more among the six hundred
thousand at Mt. Sinai, but nobody wrote that down.)

I'm a nice Jewish boy
who likes nice Jewish boys
............so exempt

myself from the Commandments, composed not for men who
lie with me. Hear that, O Israel, dearest Jews who read
Leviticus 18-22 every Day
of Atonement.

Your Holiness Code is holier
than thou. All the vows you make from this New Year till next
are annulled? Love your neighbor as yourself. I dare you.