Rachel Miller Solomin

We The People Take Action A week of actions and guides to make a meaningful impact

open.substack.com/pub/50501por...

Hebrew calligraphy in dark green stretches in lines across the image. Negative space makes room for a simple representation of an inflatable frog costume with a blue bandana. That shape consists of the English translation of the Hebrew, in a lighter green, and in much smaller text. -- Famously, the Egyptian tyrant causes Egypt to be overrun with frogs because he refuses to free the Hebrew people, but there are additional details that make this a fun one to ponder. For one, the Hebrew says "the frog came up" - ONE frog - even though the rest of the time it says "frogs." So there are a few explanations rabbis have come up with to explain this. One is that a single frog multiplied to create swarms. A more creative explanation is that there was a singular giant frog who traveled and brought destruction. Jewish social media was sharing videos of the Portland Frog protester with the caption, "One Big Frog! One Big Frog!" Of course the frog protesters did multiply, and many were seen in crowds all over the world on "No Kings" Day. This calligraphic work takes the verses addressing the frog plague and combines them to form a simple rendering of the Portland Frog protester. The frog figure itself is made up of the English translations of the Hebrew around it. At the bottom left my signature is in the shape of a lily pad.

"Tzefardea Tzedek" (Frog of Righteousness)

As soon as the Portland Frog became a meme, Jewish social media blew up with jokes about the 2nd Passover plague - tzefarde'a (frogs) - and the Rabbinical commentary around it. I knew I had to make a calligraphy piece encompassing all of it. (more in alt.)

Taken just a few minutes ago outside the ICE facility in Portland that Trump claims is under siege. My message to Donald Trump is this: we don’t need you here. Stay the hell out of our city.

Image shows a picturesque, peaceful, silent suburban street approximately three miles (ten minute drive) from The Portland Macadam ICE Facility.

Ten minutes from the ICE building:

dry out your puddles
mosquito season on the horizon
declare “no quarter”

#dailyhaikuprompt #haiku |mosquito|

rabbit leaps ‘cross the yard
tall grass hiding red fruit snacks
mock strawberry gems

#dailyhaikuprompt #haiku |tall grass|

Edit. First line should read, “I have not…”

As in the U.S. and all over the world, feeding the hungry should not a political issue. Food is a human right. The Torah tells us to feed the hungry without qualification. This includes the widow, orphan, and stranger, Jews and non-Jews.

#jews_for_food_aid

Israel must stop limitations on food aid to Gaza. They must return to proper partnership with NGOs and international organizations serving food throughout Gaza rather than forcing the starving to go through four militarized stations for aid. Israel is flouting Torah and International law.

I encourage my rabbi colleagues to remember to set aside their political beliefs and fulfill the mitzvah of feeding the poor by #tzedakah toward #jews_for_food_aid and advocating setting aside political questions and focusing on the plain call of the Torah to feed the hungry of all nations.

Food Aid Shabbat — Jews for Food Aid for Gaza

I have worked as a rabbi or Jewish educator in recent years. Recently, I’ve been a bit more advocacy and volunteering. This cause is dear to my heart: www.foodaidforgaza.org/shabbat. This specific group reaches across the ideological spectrum to promote Jewish values re Palestine. #jews_for_food_aid

June counts down to summer
I spot the year’s first fruit fly
scouting strawberries

#dailyhaikuprompt #haiku |flies|

summertime snowballs
drips flavor hands extra-sweet
sun-warmed skin shivers

#dailyhaikuprompt #haiku |shaved ice|

hot summer concert
horns and drums fill the ballroom
sweat drips down my back

#dailyhaikuprompt #Haiku
|hot night|

lily centerpiece
fallen petals and stamens
red smears of pollen

#dailyhaikuprompt #haiku |pollen|

For 6/7

Our haiku prompts for June 7-14

Remember, the prompt is just a suggestion. Use it, or not, as you like.

North South
06/07 Pollen Oatmeal
06/08 Hot Night Holly
06/09 Shaved Ice Short Days
06/10 Flies Overcoat
06/11 Tall Grass Breath
06/12 Mosquito Cold Night
06/13 Spring Water Dark
06/14 Green […]

On June 4th 2025 activist rallied outside the ice facility in Portland Oregon at 4310 South macadam avenue to demand an end to Trump's racist attacks on immigrants when they showed up in the morning there was a long line out the door of immigrants waiting to enter the building. Sometime later a bus left the facility full of people that had been detained. Activist protested the bus leaving the facility on a public sidewalk and pushed by security guards quickly after the department of Homeland security officers came out and demanded the protesters handcuffed and take them in the ice facility

At no point where protesters read their Miranda rights are told that they were under arrest when the inside the facility they were placed in shackles it was confirmed by one of the protesters that inside the building there were people being held in cells some of whom were people who were in line outside the building earlier in the morning. After being held for over an hour the protesters were released they were told that they were never under arrest but that charges have no filed against them but they were held against their will inside of a government building and shackles and handcuffs and they were not under arrest is a blatant violation of their rights

Dozens of protesters had no converged upon the building to stand against this attack and will outside at around 5:00 p.m. another bus full of detained people left the facility Portland Contra las deportaciones unequivocally stands against these attacks in our community while we are glad our comrades are released we are devastated knowing that there were other people detained that day that did not get released we keep them in our minds and hearts as we commit to fighting even harder against ice terror

What happened to us was terrifying illegally abduction without due process stated Michelle darr one of the activists that was detained we were shackled and held without cause or arrest inside government building used to process human suffering and while we were eventually released so many immigrants mother's father's children remained inside nameless and voiceless awaiting an uncertain fate in the fascist system that was never meant to protect them my heart breaks for every soul trapped in that building and every family torn apart we will not be silenced we will not be deterred we'll keep showing up because no one is free until all of us are free

A statement from Portland Contra Las Deportaciones on the events that unfolded at Portland ICE facility yesterday

Flyer with an image of lady liberty as a black woman with a tattered LGTBQ+ flag draped around her body. She holds books to her chest in one arm, and the other arm is extended toward the viewer in welcome. Two children huddle at her feet, hugging her legs and appearing concerned. Many chained hands of different skin tones reach toward lady liberty at the bottom of the frame, seemingly beseeching her to help them, longing for freedom. A banner above lady liberty reads, "Stronger Together, Rise Against Fascism" with the signature of the artist, Taimani Emerald Creative, on one corner of the banner. The image is framed like a tarot card. Text on the flyer reads, "June 14th, noon to 4pm, all flags welcome. Flag Day. Battleship oregon memorial, SW Naito Parkway, PDX. Organize against systemic injustice. Learn ways to support your community. Rally and march for change." A logo of a lighthouse shining a rainbow is in the left corner, with the numbers "5050" next to the lighthouse and a lighthouse symbolizing the number one. On the right corner is a QR code that leads to a linktree: https://linktr.ee/50501portlandoregon

(1/3) Next nation-wide day of protest is June 14th! Stronger together!!
#portland #oregon #multnomah #protest #rally #march #fiftyfiftyone
Credit for this phenomenal artwork: @shesaworldchanger on instagram. Website: www.taimaniemeraldcreative.com

sometimes, I’d get lucky
capture two at once
but it was mostly slow-going

then I closed the hall light
and repeated the task
in the bedroom claimed
by the small boy
and closed the door behind myself

I couldn’t relocate them all
but the boy slept

5/5
#dailyhaikuprompt #poem #freeformpoem |moth|

the moths know what to do
they come to the light
and I grab each one
and fling it out the window
I trap them one-by-one
and feel the flapping wings
against my palms
then run down steps
and throw my prisoner skyward

4/5

#dailyhaikuprompt #poem #freeformpoem |moth|

unnerved tears start
from the child who cannot sleep even at home
in the presence of such critters
(to say nothing of spiders and flies)

I close all the windows
except in the stairwell
I shut all the lights but for that chandelier
3/4

#dailyhaikuprompt #poem #freeformpoem |moth|

children explore
and find them first

the air indoors is fresh
ocean-washed and cool
but moths cluster in the stairwell
flutter around the chandelier
and anxious children
eye the winged insects
flattened against
bedroom walls
2/4

#dailyhaikuprompt #poem #freeformpoem |moth|

we arrive
at the beach house
lit by a late sunset

we arrive
at dusk
not before the moths entered
screen-less windows
left open by well-meaning cleaners

my husband and I unload
deposit groceries in the kitchen
suitcases in the hall

1/4
#dailyhaikuprompt #poem #freeformpoem |moth|

under the orchard
tree roots weave a living mesh
no neat rows underground
#dailyhaikuprompt #haiku |roots|

Falling behind this week…

slow pull into driveway
sprinklers spray and cheery barks greet
pet first, park later

#dailyhaikuprompt #haiku |spray|

safe from my sprayer—
spittle bug foam clings to a weed
insect sips free lunch
#dailyhaikuprompt #haiku |spray| for 6/3

play fight in the garden
raucous children and their guns
water balloon bursts
hit point-blank at a friend’s eye
spraying boys or plants? aim for feet

#dailyhaikuprompt
#senryu
|spray|

I struggled yesterday to capture this seductive element of berries, their juicy sweetness being a lure for animals/us to spread the seeds. I ended up going a different direction. You got it perfectly.

Strawberry; sun-warmed,
succulent, sweet seductress -
Come, taste me. Love me!

#dailyhaikuprompt berry
#haiku
#poetry
#poet
#micropoetry
#writingcommunity