In the Light of Peace is a volume of curated liturgical poetry published by Bayit in partnership with Congregation Ner Shalom, designed for use in liberal Jewish settings across and beyond denominations. Edited by Leiah Bowden with co-editors Rita Rowan, Sally Churgel, and Abby Bogomolny, these poems speak of love, revelation, death and dying, gratitude, forgiveness, and more.

Ner Shalom Poetry Online

Read some poetry by some members of Ner Shalom’s Guild of Poets. Click on the names below to read remarkable poems by:

Also, read Ner Shalom’s COVID Psalms, a “found poem” made up of contributions from 45 Ner Shalomers.

Praise for “In the Light of Peace”

What a delightful and rich collection of color, fragrance, simile, metaphor, whimsy and profound musing! In the Light of Peace is a feast for the mind, heart and spirit. Each poem offers a unique contribution to the Mishkan (the Holy Dwelling-place) of community and shared humanity. Ner Shalom has provided this place made of words, images, and startling reflections… so that we might enter and be inspired.
–Rabbi Shefa Gold, author of Are We There Yet? Travel as Spiritual Practice

These are poems of hope and healing. They draw forth the blessings of our grief and our joy to help us find the holiness in every day. Keep this powerful medicine for the soul nearby.
–Rabbi Marcia Prager, Dean, ALEPH Ordination Program, and author of The Path of Blessing

In times of loss, ordinary language often fails to reach the cave of the heart. We need a soul language that offers a feeling of companionship to where we are walking. In the Light of Peace is a rich and beautiful gathering of poems to caress the tender heart. Everyone who knows sorrow will be graced by this offering.
–Francis Weller, author of The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred Work of Grief

These may be spiritual seekers, but for this anthology they are truly FINDERS — finders of river words, wind poems, heart psalms, spirit dreams. This collection reaches far out and deeply inward. It is a wave of words crashing on the shore of consciousness — soothing, startling, sanding down and building up. There is great heft here, and great beauty, great boldness.
– Jan Phillips, Speaker, Artist, & Author, No Ordinary Time