B”H

21 Elul 5786/September 2, 2026

Dear poets, friends of poetry and, we hope,

Of Israel and The Deronda Review,

Our twenty-second issue now is posted.

Its theme is “Birth,” and this time it is timely,

Since we are getting close to Rosh HaShanah,

Which marks, we say, the “birthday of the world”

And the inception of our human race.

To all who have submitted work, and all

Who read, we wish a good and prosperous year.

A year in which we hear good news, although

It may not come through television channels,

But rather messages from soul to soul,

From soul to soul, from mind to mind, from hand

To hand in truth: may resolutions ripen

And fellowship grow strong, to wrest the world

From Mordor’s grip, and may the miracles

That have preserved, so far, our little state –

The pledge of ruth and justice in the world –

Preserve us still. May we be granted strength

To see our dangers, yet not miss the signs

Of a new birth. 

                               This is, we think, the implicit

Prayer of Poetry, which while transcribing

Vicissitudes of time, looks out beyond them

To a consciousness encompassing the whole

And capable of rescue and repair,

Though it, too, meets with falsehood in its field

And sometimes may, alas, mistake itself.

This is a very little magazine,

Not noticed much by those who fashion taste,

But what it holds is evidence of life

Amid the reign of the inanimate

Which year by year elaborates itself.

O may these diverse spirits speak to you

Of what we have to lose or to preserve.

The magazine, as usual, is presented

In .pdf and in .html.

The .pdf is recommended, though

It now comes up with sidebars from a program

We vainly tried to scrub from our computer –

The Internet, you may have noticed, is

Less and less a friendly place.  But you can still

Print it out, and read it at your leisure.

The .html version may be handier

For reading on your phone.  A paper copy,

Of course, would be the best, and can be ordered.*

We call attention, too, to some new postings

On our home page: an expansion of the painting

That graces our front cover, and the thoughts

Of a Hebrew poet and writer on literature

And culture, and an editorial salvo

Against the current anti-Dreyfus scourge.

Perhaps next time our subject will be “Prayer.”

Meanwhile, perhaps you’ll pray that we withstand

The siege, as once in Hezekiah’s time,

And that next year we speak of better things.

Yours as ever

                                 Esther Cameron

                                 Mindy Aber Barad

                                 Editors, The Deronda Review

*28 NIS or 7 USD ($5 or 20 NIS to contributors), plus foreign postage if outside Israel