"Unexpected Joy" and "Opinions about…" from Zakhoder's book Zakhoderzost (the title is a portmanteau of the name Zakhoder and the Russian noun derzost [impertinence]).

"Unexpected joy.

 Since morning, the shtetl has been in sorrow and alarm:

They found a murdered child on the road,

Practically at the town gates…

Oh, God, oh, God, what awaits us now?

Of course, we will be blamed for this!

And, as punishment for our sins, the rabbi has vanished somewhere

Just now,

When such a calamity has befallen us!

Like sheep, the people have flocked to the synagogue;

Oh, today everyone has remembered about God!

Everyone is praying. And crying and moaning,

'How can we live? Where can we run?' They don't know…

But everyone knows – guiltless, they will perish,

And, as punishment for our sins, the rabbi is nowhere to be found –

Just now, when

We need him so!

And suddenly the shames runs in, radiant with joy.

'Jews, there's cause for celebration! And such celebration!

The rabbi says that [the victim] is Aunt Hannah's grandson,

And, furthermore, he is not dead, only hurt!...'

They will realize that we are not guilty of anything –

And there is no reason to stage a pogrom –

The danger has passed!

Everything is the same as it has always been!'

And the people rejoiced and celebrated…

But, of course, the sounds of merriment died down

And one could hear the rabbi praying –

Tearfully, he prayed to God,

That the world would change at least a bit,

So that we would no longer know such joys…

There is one problem –

Everything is the same as it has always been!" Boris Zakhoder "Zakhoderzosti" p.63-64,"Eksmo" 2010

            1986

From a series of brief poems entitled "Opinions about …":

" … About a mentally deficient person.

The mentally deficient person disliked Jews.

Which is only natural – he was mentally deficient."Boris Zakhoder "Zakhoderzosti" p. 99,"Eksmo" 2010