For Hanukkah: The Ballad of Clara Lemlich

Al Hanisim,

This is for the miracles,

for the redemption, for the mighty deeds,

for the saving acts and

for the resistance of our ancestors

in days of old, at this very time…

First night of Hanukkah 1909 and

the worst snowstorm in twenty years

was slowly gathering, the wind

ripping holes through the lines of strikers

huddling against the piercing cold.

Among them was young Clara Lemlich

the same one who just two weeks earlier

stood impatiently in Cooper Union

hour after hour

listening to the union men drone on

until fed up, she grabbed the podium and sent

Yiddish words flying, inciting

sparking, before finally igniting:

I am a working girl

one of those who are on strike

against intolerable conditions.

I am tired of listening to speakers

who talk in general terms.

What we are here for

is to decide whether we shall strike

or shall not strike.

I offer a resolution

that a general strike

be declared now.

Thus exploded the Uprising of the Twenty Thousand.

After the smoke had cleared

the ILGW won union contracts at every shop

save one: the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory

who said no to new changes, no to fair wages

no to any union in our shop.

One year later the Triangle burst into flame,

sending working women plummeting to their deaths

like sparks flying, sputtering and disappearing

on a cold winter’s night.

That’s how it is with miracles:

we rededicate the Temple

but in due time it will fall.

The miracle isn’t the fire that lasts, no

the miracle is where we find the strength

to rise up and relight the fire

once again.

Post Script:

Clara Lemlich died at the age of 96

at the Los Angeles Jewish Home for the Aged,

after organizing their workers

and agitating their management

to honor the boycott of the United Farm Workers

(which they did).