The Gallery:
More Poetry
AT THE JERUSALEM CAFE, Leslêa Newman
A note from the artist: "At the Jerusalem Café" was inspired by an interaction I had while in Asheville, NC for the Yetzirah Jewish Poets Conference.
About the artist: Lesléa Newman has created 87 books for readers of all ages including the memoirs-in-verse, "I Carry My Mother" and "I Wish My Father" and the children's books, "Gittel's Journey: An Ellis Island Story," "Welcoming Elijah: A Passover Tale With A Tail," "Joyful Song: A Naming Story" and "Ketzel, The Cat Who Composed." She has received two National Jewish Book Awards and the Sydney Taylor Body of Work Award.
GLORY TO THE MOTHERS,Theodore Goldstein
A note from the artist: This piece was written for Mothers' Day for my mother, and it was inspired by the incredible resilience and strength of all of the Jewish women and mothers today and throughout all history.
About the artist: Ted Goldstein is a 26-year-old Jewish writer and educator from Los Angeles, CA. After graduating from Princeton University, Goldstein began working as a Hebrew School educator, where he fell in love with his twin passions of Judaism and education. Since October 7th, he has been publishing poetry and essays on his substack, The Zionist Voice, which has grown to more than 300 subscribers and has over 3000 monthly readers.
HOPE, Carly Sachs
About the artist: Carly Sachs is the author of the steam sequence (Washington Writers’ Publishing House 2006) and Descendants of Eve (Blue Lyra Press, 2020). She is the editor of the why and later (Deep Cleveland Press, 2007), a collection of poems about rape and assault. Her poems and stories have been included in The Best American Poetry series and read on NPR’s Selected Shorts. Recent work has appeared in the Jewish Book Council’s Witnessing series, the Mid-Atlantic Review, Three Fold, the At the Well blog, and the Earth Etudes for Elul project.
I AM A JEW, Alex Duchene
About the artist: Originally from Montreal, Alex is a Creative Director and Visual Artist living in Toronto. After moving to Toronto in 2008, she started her boutique design studio working extensively in branding and print design with clients big and small, ranging from large corporations, institutions, government agencies and non-profits to local Toronto brands and artists. Alex has been an advocate since a young age. She believes that we are all part of a global community and therefore have a responsibility to make the world a better place. Her advocacy has often been focused around Women's Issues and Rights. Since Oct 7 23, as a Jewish Canadian woman, she has shifted and is now focused around everything relating to fighting Jew Hatred and Jewish People's right to self-determination in our Indigenous homeland of Israel. I am passionate about making a difference and have an unwavering commitment to social justice. I've always felt that the people who believe they can change the world are the ones who do.
PICK ME, Beth Ellyn Summer
A note from the artist: I believe silence, or siding with the masses just for likes, doesn't put you above our reality: a Jew is a Jew is a Jew.
About the artist: Beth Ellyn Summer fell in love with writing fiction as a way to process the real world. Most of her work contains humor, which she learned in spades interning for Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Fallon. When she’s not writing, she’s working out, watching Wheel of Fortune, or playing with her cat, Penny Belle. Sometimes all at once. Because multi-tasking is the new self-care.
FLAMES, Lauren Sarrantonio, M.S. CCC-SLPT
A note from the artist: This poem was written when I didn't know how else to express myself after the news of Shiri and the Bibas family in February 2025.
About the artist: Lauren Sarrantonio is a speech language pathologist, writer, and musician. She has found recent purpose in advocating for her Jewish family in the wake of October 7, 2023.
THE DEATH BOX AND THE SEA, Beth Ellyn Summer
A note from the artist: The Jewish people, particularly in Israel, who've lost loved ones in terror attacks but find ways to go on
About the artist: Beth Ellyn Summer fell in love with writing fiction as a way to process the real world. Most of her work contains humor, which she learned in spades interning for Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Fallon. When she’s not writing, she’s working out, watching Wheel of Fortune, or playing with her cat, Penny Belle. Sometimes all at once. Because multi-tasking is the new self-care.
LEGENDS, Dana Leslie Goldstein
A note from the artist: The two-part poem "Legends" is the (somewhat imagined) story of my grand and great-grand mothers, as they navigate their journeys from Eastern Europe.
About the artist: Dana Leslie Goldstein is a playwright, lyricist and librettist who has won the New England New Play Competition, Harold and Mimi Steinberg Playwriting Prize, Different Voices New Play Award, ACTF New Play Award, Henry Hoyns Poetry Fellowship, AWP Intro Award, an Academy of American Poets Prize and numerous development grants. Her work has been seen at Manhattan Theatre Club, Cherry Lane, Culture Project, Women’s Project, The York, Theatre80, Theater for the New City, New Dramatists, Center Stage, BMI, Vineyard Playhouse, Pulse, Theater Row Theatre, Gene Frankel Theatre, The Barrow Group, Acorn Theatre, The Lark, Beckett Theatre, Neighborhood Playhouse, The Workshop Theater, Torn Page, Nuyorican Poets Café, Estrogenius Festival, Brave New World Rep, Axial Theatre, Players Club of Swarthmore (PA), Ensemble Theatre of Chattanooga (TN), Clamour Theatre (FL), American Stage Company (FL), Left Edge Theatre (CA), PAN Theater (CA), Spooky Action Theatre (DC), Rainy Day Artistic Collective (Seattle, WA), Black Theatre Troupe of Upstate NY, Pacific Theatre (Vancouver, Canada), TischAsia (Singapore), Red Brick Theatre (Manchester, UK), Baggage Productions (Melbourne, Australia), at the Columbus Black Theatre Festival (OH), the New York Musical Theatre Festival, on Ellis and Liberty Islands, at the U.N. and on Equity TYA tours. Dana’s plays are published by Next Stage Press, Smith & Kraus, Applause Books and Palmetto Press. For more information, visit www.danalesliegoldstein.com. Agent: Michael Moore, Michael@MichaelMooreAgency.com
TISHREI TO KISLEV 5784, Dyanna Loeb
About the artist: Dyanna Loeb is a Miami-based writer born & raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. Since age 14, she has been performing spoken word at international venues, from the San Francisco Opera House to HeartBeat Jerusalem. Her work has been featured by the Jewish Women’s Archive, Combat Antisemitism Movement, LitCrawl San Francisco, and more. As a teaching artist, she served as an educator with June Jordan’s Poetry for the People program at UC Berkeley, and co-founded “Write For Your Freedom,” a songwriting and recording workshop for incarcerated youth. A domestic violence survivor and dedicated advocate, Dyanna serves on the Board of Directors for Shalom Bayit, working to end gender-based violence in the Jewish community.
OUR ANGELS RISE AND FALL, Rhonda Rosenheck
A note from the artist: This poem is based on my translation of Genesis 28:12 and 14.
About the artist: Rhonda Rosenheck lives in rural New York and takes inspiration from relationships, nature, the zeitgeist, and ancient texts. She edited the anthology, Thriving (Exsolutas Press, 2024), for which she won an Individual Artist Grant from the NYS Council on the Arts. Her traditionally published books include The Five Books of Limericks (Ben Yehuda Press, 2023); Looking (an Elephant Tree House Press chapbook, 2018) and Yiddische Yoga: OYsanas for Every Generation (Ben Yehuda Press, 2016). She self-published Sin No More! A Biblical Sea Shanty and she sees stories (photography and poems); Her poems have appeared in journals, magazines and anthologies, and one was performed at the Fenimore Art Museum’s Glimmer Globe Theatre. Rhonda was a resident poet at Iceland’s Fish Factory Creative Centre and at North Bennington’s Prospect Street Writers House. She was the featured reader at several events in New York and Massachusetts. Rhonda gives back to her region’s literary community by hosting write- ins and a monthly open mic, teaching workshops, mentoring college students, and serving on the Hudson Valley Writers Guild board of directors.
