Towards a Progressive neo-Hasidism
The Ascent
on my unborn children
​
by Tikva Hecht
When the rain starts it seems this is a prayer
just as the quiet before the rain and the humidity
seem in their way to be prayers, just as my words
seem scarce and unprepared for climbing into prayer. I imagine
the torn palms of a mountain climber, her blood mundane
as torn petals dried in a book. I imagine in her notebook:
calculations, weather conditions, food lists and jagged stars. Nothing
about the summit. We write what we may need and may forget
I guess. This moment, the rain, its tremor; nothing
of the place of its descent. If it is not needed, if it is not forgettable
— what then?
Bediakah by Gavi Weitzman
Tikva Hecht
Tikva Hecht’s debut poetry collection, Tashlikh, was published by Ben Yehuda Press in September 2024. Her writing can be found in Canadian Literature, CV2, Grain Magazine, Modern Literature, and The Lehrhaus, among other publications. Tikva earned her MFA in creative writing from UC Riverside. She also holds an MA in philosophy from the New School for Social Research, and a BA in Judaic studies from Yeshiva University, with a focus in Talmud. She currently serves as the editorial director at Aleph Beta, a nonprofit media company, where she produces the podcast A Book Like No Other. You can see more of her work at https://www.tikvahecht.com/
