A new poetry, post-Oct. 7

A very intelligent young person once asked me: “When did the Bible stop?” “What do you mean?” I responded. “I mean,” she said, “when did they decide that the Bible was finished? Why can’t we simply add on to it? Why can’t it be like a loose-leaf notebook, where you put things in and take them out whenever you need to?” I admit I had found that question to be, well, irreverent. Now I am not so sure. Now I actually think it was a great question and I have been asking it myself. Not about taking pages out of the Bible (though I am sure there are some things I would not miss), but about adding pages to the Bible. Perhaps we are writing a new Jewish Bible for our time. Especially since Oct. 7. That is what Rachel Korazim, one of Israel’s most noted and most beloved educators, has revealed to us — a new book of Lamentation. Listen to the podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices