A poem by Tanya Klein
You’re walking to shul, little child of mine,
Forlorn and defenseless, vulnerable, age nine.
Alone, without father, you walk down the road,
All I see are your shoulders, little shoulders, big load.
Little shoulders that carry much burden, much weight,
Little shoulders, big burdens, will your loneliness abate?
I stand there and watch you, wondering who will receive,
My child at the shul doorway, will he have a reprieve?
Will there be a kind man, a sensitive soul,
Who will look at your shoulders, shoulders that reveal all?
A person with insight, with humanity, compassion,
A Rachman ben Rachman, helping others his passion.
Will you walk up to my child, his shoulders embrace,
Will you open his siddur, assist in finding the place?
Or will you elect to turn your shoulders away,
From the sight of my child alone and astray?
I stood in my doorway on that balmy Friday night,
Watching little shoulders walk out of my sight.
My child has grown now, his shoulders are broad,
His shoulders are empty, no tefilin straps hold.
No tzitzis to warm them, those shoulders I love,
No tzitzis carress them, they’re out in the cold.
What happened in shul to my child I do not know,
But you, my dear bretheren, have a chance now to grow.
Little shoulders are walking, they’re all over town.
Tiny little shoulders, and head hanging down.
They come into your shul, and they sit down alone.
Little shoulders that need you, be staunch now, be strong.
Fellow Jews, dear kind brothers, please heed this plea,
And help little shoulders, little shoulders in need.
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