Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
News

Holiday Poem: last turn

without a leg to stand on
I’ve got to keep spinning
just to remain upright
keeping you in suspense
which side of mine will He show you
nun, gimmel, hei, shin
as the nine flames illuminating me
slowly dim

until then
you can only guess
your fortune


The eighth and final day of Hanukkah is known as Zot, or Zos, Chanukah, which is a paraphrase from a verse (Numbers 7:84) in the Torah portion that is read that day. According to Jewish tradition, Zos Chanukah is the final “seal” of the High Holy Day season and is considered an auspicious time for repentance and the fulfillment of prayers.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.