Issue 7, Winter/Spring 2009

a priori, by Rachel Zolf

If the Sabbath is a form of constraint

If jihad is the first word we learn to spell

If Elie Wiesel is the Holocaust

If we must expropriate gently

If messianism licks at the edges of thought

If the truth does not lie in silence

If naf means self and brother

If the space between two words can be bridged

If moderate physical pressure is acceptable

If the primary target is the witness

If epistemological mastery is a wound that won’t close

If bittahon was trust in God now military security

If there is horror at the heart of divinity

If the body goes off near the Sbarro pizzeria

If you think the apocalyptic sting is gone from Hebrew

If the first stage is not knowing at all

If Dachau meets Disneyland

If this state is the golden calf

If ingathering means expulsion

If catastrophe becomes a passion

If we shoot and weep

If Israel is not in Israel

If the treasurehouse of well-worn terms is laden with explosives

If ha’apalah was catastrophic breakthrough now illegal immigration

If the bodies of the exploding martyrs smell of musk

If every breath of fresh air is a border

If the state no longer decides who lives or dies

If we are eternally innocent and good

If a key is an archival artifact

If all our planes return safely

If we are all enthusiasm

If we are all Hamas

If we are Israel

If cruel history repeats itself as its own cure

If it happens inside the Sbarro pizzeria

If the invasion is of the order of the border

If we discomfort our animal during slaughter

If the band of the blind plays and refreshments are served

If the third stage is but what can we do

If shaheed means martyr and witness

If preventative is energetic liquidation

If we are a community of fate

If we will and it is a fairy tale