Reviewing: “The Concealment of Endless Light” by Yehoshua November. Orison Books. 2024. Paperback. 88 pages. ISBN-13: 978-1949039504.
Yehoshua November’s latest collection, “The Concealment of Endless Light,” feels like a breath of fresh air in a world that often seems to have lost touch with the sacred. Available on orisonbooks.com, this book isn’t just another volume of poetry—it’s a gateway to seeing the world through a higher lens.
November taps into the ancient kabbalistic idea that our reality is actually a divine poem, with deeper meanings hidden between the lines. But he doesn’t just tell us about this concept; he lets us experience it firsthand. Take these lines from “Ein Sof Radio”:
The rabbi rests his head on his hand
to listen to the news in an 8×10 sitting room
that exists only in God’s imagination.
Reading this, you can almost feel the boundaries between the ordinary and the divine start to blur.
Throughout the collection, November plays with the tension between what’s hidden and what’s revealed. He shows us how the spiritual is always peeking through the cracks of our everyday lives. In “Notes on the Tzimtzum,” he writes:
In this world, we ride buses through a Divine concealment
whose diameter is greater
than infinity,
we sip water
beside a dam
that holds back
endless light.
It’s like he’s teaching us to read the world in a new way, to see the poetry in a bus ride or a glass of water.
What really sets this book apart is how November grapples with the messy parts of life. He doesn’t pretend that living spiritually is all smooth sailing. In “The Deed,” he admits:
Perhaps this is why
there are so few pious Jews in poetry—
that profession of rowing
through the rivers of the heart
with oars made of memory
and sadness.”
Yet even in acknowledging the struggle, he finds a way to make it part of the spiritual journey.
November’s take on family life is particularly touching. In “The Buttonhook,” he shares a moment of parental regret that many of us can relate to:
Oh, the terrible words I said
about things he couldn’t help.
And now he is crossing the bridge
over the Hackensack River’s dingy waters,
Saturday morning traffic swooshing by, wind
stinging my eyes, and I race ahead
to catch up with him.”
It’s raw and honest, reminding us that the Divine shows up in our mistakes and our efforts to make amends, not just in our moments of transcendence.
Throughout the book, November doesn’t just describe spiritual truths—he shows us how to live them. His poems help us see and feel the “hidden light” that kabbalists talk about, changing how we understand our place in the world.
If you’ve ever found poetry or mysticism hard to grasp, don’t worry. November’s work is like a gentle guide, showing us how to spot the extraordinary in our ordinary lives. He slows us down, inviting us to pay attention and find meaning in moments we might usually overlook.
In a time when many of us feel disconnected, November’s poetry offers a way back to wholeness. It reminds us that every moment, no matter how mundane or challenging, can be a doorway to something sacred if we approach it with the right mindset.
“The Concealment of Endless Light” does what great poetry and authentic mysticism aim to do: It brings lofty ideas down to earth, making them real in our everyday experiences. Through November’s eyes, we start to see the world as it really is—a place where the infinite light of creation shines through everything, just waiting for us to notice.
For me, November’s work has changed not just how I read poetry, but how we read the world around us. November reminds readers that we’re not just isolated individuals in a meaningless universe, but interconnected souls in a world brimming with divine significance. He teaches us to read between the lines of reality, uncovering the hidden light in everything and showing us how to create our own bit of eternity by seeing God’s presence in every aspect of our lives.
“The Concealment of Endless Light” is more than a collection of poems. It’s a guide to living with spiritual awareness in our complex, often confusing world. It helps bridge the gap between our spiritual yearnings and the messy reality of everyday life, showing us how to find glimmers of the infinite in our finite existence. November invites us to see the world as the great mystics did—not as a simple story, but as a profound poem rich with meaning and holiness.
Dr. Bin Goldman is a clinical psychologist. He works with adults and children in private practice, in Teaneck, New Jersey and the Upper West Side. He writes and speaks about mental health, Torah and spirituality.
