10 | MAY 28 • 2020 

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Caught in a Shakespearean 
drama
I dutifully wash my hands
And wash my hands again
and again
and again
and again.

Singing Happy Birthday even 
once
seems out of sync with the 
task.
I count to 20 instead.

And I wash my hands again
and again and again
attacking those nasty covids
more than 20 times a day.
Out, damn spot!

Then a wise woman says
she recites the Shema.

Hmmm, I think,
as a ripple stirs in my heart.
How would that change the 
task?
Something resonates.
So I try it the next time
I wash my hands.

“Shema Yisrael Adonai 
Eloheinu,
Adonai Echad,”
I intone
as the suds bubble
on my fingers,
my nails
my palms.

My mood shifts.
My being lightens.
My heart opens.
A discovery!
Washing my hands is a prayer.
It is a meditation.
It is a connection
to the Eternal One,
a connection
to all Souls everywhere
as we all wash our hands
as One.

Shema is the call:
Listen up, all you who ques-
tion
and struggle to understand
the dualities of Life.
Know that opposites
live together as One.
Darkness and Light,
Life and Death,
Sickness and Wellness are 
One.
We are each One.
We are all One together.
We are all in this struggle 
together,
and we are stronger for it.

Even if apart,
we will get through this 
together
as One,
with love
and compassion
and hope
and the Universal Prayer
of Washing our Hands.

poem

Washing Our Hands

Elaine Adler is a poet from Lexington, Mass. She was a member of Temple 
Israel’
s 1954 confirmation class.

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