Raymond P. Scheindlin
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195315424
- eISBN:
- 9780199872039
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195315424.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
Judah Halevi, the great medieval Hebrew poet, abandoned home and family in Spain (al-Andalus) at the end of his life and traveled east to die in the Holy Land. This book narrates his journey, quoting ...
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Judah Halevi, the great medieval Hebrew poet, abandoned home and family in Spain (al-Andalus) at the end of his life and traveled east to die in the Holy Land. This book narrates his journey, quoting from Arabic letters by Halevi and his friends, and explores its meaning through analysis of his Hebrew poems. The poems are presented both in Hebrew and in new English verse translations and are provided with full commentary. The discussion introduces Halevi’s circle of Jewish businessmen and intellectuals in al-Andalus and Egypt, examines their way of life, and describes their position vis-à-vis Arabic and Islamic culture. It also explores the interweaving of religious ideas of Jewish, Islamic, and Hellenistic origin in Halevi’s work. Although Halevi was partially motivated by a desire to repudiate the Judeo-Arabic hybrid culture and embrace purely Jewish values, the book demonstrates that his poetry and his pilgrimage continue to reflect the Judeo-Arabic milieu. His poetry and pilgrimage also show that while the Jews’ precarious situation as a tolerated minority weighed on Halevi, he was impelled to the pilgrimage not by a grand plan for ending the Jewish exile, as is widely thought, but by a personal religious quest. Chapters 1 through 3 each deal with one of the major themes of Halevi’s poetry that point in the direction of the pilgrimage. Chapters 4 through 6 are a narrative of the pilgrimage. Chapters 7 through 10 are a study of Halevi’s poems that are explicitly about the Land of Israel and about the pilgrimage. The epilogue explores the later legend of his martyrdom.Less
Judah Halevi, the great medieval Hebrew poet, abandoned home and family in Spain (al-Andalus) at the end of his life and traveled east to die in the Holy Land. This book narrates his journey, quoting from Arabic letters by Halevi and his friends, and explores its meaning through analysis of his Hebrew poems. The poems are presented both in Hebrew and in new English verse translations and are provided with full commentary. The discussion introduces Halevi’s circle of Jewish businessmen and intellectuals in al-Andalus and Egypt, examines their way of life, and describes their position vis-à-vis Arabic and Islamic culture. It also explores the interweaving of religious ideas of Jewish, Islamic, and Hellenistic origin in Halevi’s work. Although Halevi was partially motivated by a desire to repudiate the Judeo-Arabic hybrid culture and embrace purely Jewish values, the book demonstrates that his poetry and his pilgrimage continue to reflect the Judeo-Arabic milieu. His poetry and pilgrimage also show that while the Jews’ precarious situation as a tolerated minority weighed on Halevi, he was impelled to the pilgrimage not by a grand plan for ending the Jewish exile, as is widely thought, but by a personal religious quest. Chapters 1 through 3 each deal with one of the major themes of Halevi’s poetry that point in the direction of the pilgrimage. Chapters 4 through 6 are a narrative of the pilgrimage. Chapters 7 through 10 are a study of Halevi’s poems that are explicitly about the Land of Israel and about the pilgrimage. The epilogue explores the later legend of his martyrdom.
W. G. E. Watson
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- April 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780198263913
- eISBN:
- 9780191601187
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198263910.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
This is the last of five chapters on the text of the Old Testament, and discusses Hebrew poetry in the context of the Hebrew (Old Testament) Bible. The introductory section looks at recent work on ...
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This is the last of five chapters on the text of the Old Testament, and discusses Hebrew poetry in the context of the Hebrew (Old Testament) Bible. The introductory section looks at recent work on the discovery of the verse traditions of the ancient Near East, and discusses the difficulty of reading Hebrew poetry, the Hebrew poet's resources (tradition versus innovation) and the poet's voice and the lyrical first person singular (the lyrical ‘I’). The second section discusses the issue of differentiating between prose and poetry, the third discusses metre and rhythm, and the fourth discusses parallelism. Further sections discuss building blocks (line, half‐line, and couplet), the segmentation of poems, repetition, the exploitation of sound, figurative language, and poetic diction. The last section of the chapter looks at the matter of holding the reader's attention.Less
This is the last of five chapters on the text of the Old Testament, and discusses Hebrew poetry in the context of the Hebrew (Old Testament) Bible. The introductory section looks at recent work on the discovery of the verse traditions of the ancient Near East, and discusses the difficulty of reading Hebrew poetry, the Hebrew poet's resources (tradition versus innovation) and the poet's voice and the lyrical first person singular (the lyrical ‘I’). The second section discusses the issue of differentiating between prose and poetry, the third discusses metre and rhythm, and the fourth discusses parallelism. Further sections discuss building blocks (line, half‐line, and couplet), the segmentation of poems, repetition, the exploitation of sound, figurative language, and poetic diction. The last section of the chapter looks at the matter of holding the reader's attention.
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804762939
- eISBN:
- 9780804779104
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804762939.003.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Jewish Studies
This chapter begins with two brief collective portraits of the American Hebraists from two different periods to introduce the subject of this study. The first comes from the pen of Zalman Shazar, a ...
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This chapter begins with two brief collective portraits of the American Hebraists from two different periods to introduce the subject of this study. The first comes from the pen of Zalman Shazar, a historian and man of letters who became Israel's third president; the second involves the author's former instructor, Boston Hebrew Teachers College president Eisig Silberschlag. The chapter then discusses Hebrew in America by situating it in reference to Christian Hebraism, which was responsible for the knowledge of Hebrew becoming a necessary attainment for the elite of Protestant clergy in the colonial period. It also examines the origins of the revival of Hebrew as a modern, spoken tongue and the development of American Hebrew literature, in particular Hebrew poetry.Less
This chapter begins with two brief collective portraits of the American Hebraists from two different periods to introduce the subject of this study. The first comes from the pen of Zalman Shazar, a historian and man of letters who became Israel's third president; the second involves the author's former instructor, Boston Hebrew Teachers College president Eisig Silberschlag. The chapter then discusses Hebrew in America by situating it in reference to Christian Hebraism, which was responsible for the knowledge of Hebrew becoming a necessary attainment for the elite of Protestant clergy in the colonial period. It also examines the origins of the revival of Hebrew as a modern, spoken tongue and the development of American Hebrew literature, in particular Hebrew poetry.
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804762007
- eISBN:
- 9780804775021
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804762007.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
The chapter continues the discussion of the development of Jewish literature from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century. Among the topics covered are Achad ha'am's dominance during the ...
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The chapter continues the discussion of the development of Jewish literature from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century. Among the topics covered are Achad ha'am's dominance during the 1890s and the challenges it faced in the first decade of the twentieth century; and how the success of Bialik's poetic revolution belied Achad ha'am's Zionist prognosis that only the existence of a Hebrew-speaking community in Palestine would levitate Hebrew poetry to the level of connotative and imaginative effectiveness.Less
The chapter continues the discussion of the development of Jewish literature from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century. Among the topics covered are Achad ha'am's dominance during the 1890s and the challenges it faced in the first decade of the twentieth century; and how the success of Bialik's poetic revolution belied Achad ha'am's Zionist prognosis that only the existence of a Hebrew-speaking community in Palestine would levitate Hebrew poetry to the level of connotative and imaginative effectiveness.
Merav Rosenfeld-Hadad
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780813036496
- eISBN:
- 9780813041810
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813036496.003.0013
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Middle Eastern Studies
This chapter complements the Andalusian poetry study and deals with the impact of Arabic Islamic paraliturgical songs on Jewish culture and Hebrew poetry, with roots in Iraq, pointing out that since ...
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This chapter complements the Andalusian poetry study and deals with the impact of Arabic Islamic paraliturgical songs on Jewish culture and Hebrew poetry, with roots in Iraq, pointing out that since the days of the Abbasid Caliphate in the lands of Islam, the content of Jewish religious poems “comprises themes and ideas that were inspired by the Quran and the Hadith as well as Arabic poetry, Islamic philosophy, theology, and mysticism…. It lasted more than a thousand years … and continued across the Ottoman Empire, when Islam was no longer as strong and powerful. Such influence is still evident in the Aleppo-Syrian Jewish community of New York.”Less
This chapter complements the Andalusian poetry study and deals with the impact of Arabic Islamic paraliturgical songs on Jewish culture and Hebrew poetry, with roots in Iraq, pointing out that since the days of the Abbasid Caliphate in the lands of Islam, the content of Jewish religious poems “comprises themes and ideas that were inspired by the Quran and the Hadith as well as Arabic poetry, Islamic philosophy, theology, and mysticism…. It lasted more than a thousand years … and continued across the Ottoman Empire, when Islam was no longer as strong and powerful. Such influence is still evident in the Aleppo-Syrian Jewish community of New York.”
Alan Mintz
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804762939
- eISBN:
- 9780804779104
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804762939.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Jewish Studies
The effort to create a serious Hebrew literature in the United States in the years around World War I is one of the best-kept secrets of American Jewish history. Hebrew had been revived as a modern ...
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The effort to create a serious Hebrew literature in the United States in the years around World War I is one of the best-kept secrets of American Jewish history. Hebrew had been revived as a modern literary language in nineteenth-century Russia and then taken to Palestine as part of the Zionist revolution. But the overwhelming majority of Jewish emigrants from Eastern Europe settled in America, and a passionate kernel among them believed that Hebrew provided the vehicle for modernizing the Jewish people while maintaining their connection to Zion. These American Hebraists created schools, journals, newspapers, and, most of all, a high literary culture focused on producing poetry. This book is a critical introduction to American Hebrew poetry, focusing on a dozen key poets. This secular poetry began with a preoccupation with the situation of the individual in a disenchanted world and then moved outward to engage American vistas and Jewish fate and hope in mid-century. American Hebrew poets hoped to be read in both Palestine and America, but were disappointed on both scores. Several moved to Israel and connected with the vital literary scene there, but most stayed and persisted in the cause of American Hebraism.Less
The effort to create a serious Hebrew literature in the United States in the years around World War I is one of the best-kept secrets of American Jewish history. Hebrew had been revived as a modern literary language in nineteenth-century Russia and then taken to Palestine as part of the Zionist revolution. But the overwhelming majority of Jewish emigrants from Eastern Europe settled in America, and a passionate kernel among them believed that Hebrew provided the vehicle for modernizing the Jewish people while maintaining their connection to Zion. These American Hebraists created schools, journals, newspapers, and, most of all, a high literary culture focused on producing poetry. This book is a critical introduction to American Hebrew poetry, focusing on a dozen key poets. This secular poetry began with a preoccupation with the situation of the individual in a disenchanted world and then moved outward to engage American vistas and Jewish fate and hope in mid-century. American Hebrew poets hoped to be read in both Palestine and America, but were disappointed on both scores. Several moved to Israel and connected with the vital literary scene there, but most stayed and persisted in the cause of American Hebraism.
Jane S. Gerber
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- May 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781904113300
- eISBN:
- 9781800343276
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781904113300.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter analyses the distinctive Jewish civilization that emerged in Spain, which was then shaped by the unique coexistence of Jews, Christians, and Muslims on European soil. The Jews of Spain ...
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This chapter analyses the distinctive Jewish civilization that emerged in Spain, which was then shaped by the unique coexistence of Jews, Christians, and Muslims on European soil. The Jews of Spain remained a distinctive, subordinate, and vulnerable people under the hegemonies of Christendom and Islam, drawing freely from the cultural vitality of both civilizations while also frequently suffering as the victim of both. It also discusses how the Jews of Spain produced an extraordinary outpouring of Hebrew poetry, engaged in philosophical and scientific enquiry, and crafted a civilization that combined elements of Judaeo-Arabic and Romance cultures on the Iberian peninsula. The chapter highlights the era of the caliphate of Cordoba (929–1031), which is closely associated with the beginnings of revolutionary experimentation in new forms of Jewish self-expression and new fields of intellectual enquiry. It illustrates the daring innovations in the manipulation of the Hebrew language during the brief blossoming of the caliphate of Cordoba and the contraction of Muslim rule.Less
This chapter analyses the distinctive Jewish civilization that emerged in Spain, which was then shaped by the unique coexistence of Jews, Christians, and Muslims on European soil. The Jews of Spain remained a distinctive, subordinate, and vulnerable people under the hegemonies of Christendom and Islam, drawing freely from the cultural vitality of both civilizations while also frequently suffering as the victim of both. It also discusses how the Jews of Spain produced an extraordinary outpouring of Hebrew poetry, engaged in philosophical and scientific enquiry, and crafted a civilization that combined elements of Judaeo-Arabic and Romance cultures on the Iberian peninsula. The chapter highlights the era of the caliphate of Cordoba (929–1031), which is closely associated with the beginnings of revolutionary experimentation in new forms of Jewish self-expression and new fields of intellectual enquiry. It illustrates the daring innovations in the manipulation of the Hebrew language during the brief blossoming of the caliphate of Cordoba and the contraction of Muslim rule.
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804762939
- eISBN:
- 9780804779104
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804762939.003.0014
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Jewish Studies
This chapter analyzes the poetry of Gabriel Preil, the youngest of the poets considered in this study, and whose work represents the culmination of the enterprise of American Hebrew poetry. Preil is ...
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This chapter analyzes the poetry of Gabriel Preil, the youngest of the poets considered in this study, and whose work represents the culmination of the enterprise of American Hebrew poetry. Preil is the only American whose work attained the kind of enthusiastic and sustained critical reception among Israeli readers that had been so sorely desired by all who preceded him. The achievement is all the more remarkable because, unlike Efros, Halkin, and Regelson, who settled in Israel around the time of the establishment of the state, Preil remained in New York and visited Israel only later in his life. The style he achieved in his mature poetry fulfills one of the central aspirations of American Hebrew poetry: simplicity without avant-garde vulgarity.Less
This chapter analyzes the poetry of Gabriel Preil, the youngest of the poets considered in this study, and whose work represents the culmination of the enterprise of American Hebrew poetry. Preil is the only American whose work attained the kind of enthusiastic and sustained critical reception among Israeli readers that had been so sorely desired by all who preceded him. The achievement is all the more remarkable because, unlike Efros, Halkin, and Regelson, who settled in Israel around the time of the establishment of the state, Preil remained in New York and visited Israel only later in his life. The style he achieved in his mature poetry fulfills one of the central aspirations of American Hebrew poetry: simplicity without avant-garde vulgarity.
David Goldstein
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781904113669
- eISBN:
- 9781800340183
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781904113669.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This introductory chapter provides an overview of Spanish Hebrew poetry. The revival of Hebrew poetry was a direct consequence of two factors: the residence of the Jews in Muslim lands, and the Jews’ ...
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This introductory chapter provides an overview of Spanish Hebrew poetry. The revival of Hebrew poetry was a direct consequence of two factors: the residence of the Jews in Muslim lands, and the Jews’ reappraisal of the Hebrew Bible. The Jews of Spain followed their Arabic masters in much of their poetic subject-matter, but they often transmuted it into specifically Jewish material. One encounters often their awareness of the passing of time, of the futility of life, and of the precious quality of the immortal soul. And, above all, one experiences with them their search for the knowledge of God, their sense of dependence on him as the Creator of the world, their consciousness of the relationship between God and the Jewish people, their desire to serve him with all their being, their remorse at their own iniquity, and their torment and their bewilderment at the sufferings of their people. The Spanish period not only saw the efflorescence for the first time since the ‘song of Songs’ of secular Hebrew poetry. It also provided for the first time the framework for the professional Jewish poet.Less
This introductory chapter provides an overview of Spanish Hebrew poetry. The revival of Hebrew poetry was a direct consequence of two factors: the residence of the Jews in Muslim lands, and the Jews’ reappraisal of the Hebrew Bible. The Jews of Spain followed their Arabic masters in much of their poetic subject-matter, but they often transmuted it into specifically Jewish material. One encounters often their awareness of the passing of time, of the futility of life, and of the precious quality of the immortal soul. And, above all, one experiences with them their search for the knowledge of God, their sense of dependence on him as the Creator of the world, their consciousness of the relationship between God and the Jewish people, their desire to serve him with all their being, their remorse at their own iniquity, and their torment and their bewilderment at the sufferings of their people. The Spanish period not only saw the efflorescence for the first time since the ‘song of Songs’ of secular Hebrew poetry. It also provided for the first time the framework for the professional Jewish poet.
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804762939
- eISBN:
- 9780804779104
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804762939.003.0002
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Jewish Studies
This chapter explores how American Hebrew poets persisted in producing a rich and substantial body of verse well into the middle of the twentieth century, despite being ignored by the center in ...
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This chapter explores how American Hebrew poets persisted in producing a rich and substantial body of verse well into the middle of the twentieth century, despite being ignored by the center in Palestine and their loss of readership at home. It suggests that Hebrew was an essentially religious and sensual experience which flooded their daily lives and provided them with direct access to the object of their desire. American Hebrew poets' passion for Hebrew is the secret spring of American Hebraism precisely because it played such a small role in the public rhetoric of the movement.Less
This chapter explores how American Hebrew poets persisted in producing a rich and substantial body of verse well into the middle of the twentieth century, despite being ignored by the center in Palestine and their loss of readership at home. It suggests that Hebrew was an essentially religious and sensual experience which flooded their daily lives and provided them with direct access to the object of their desire. American Hebrew poets' passion for Hebrew is the secret spring of American Hebraism precisely because it played such a small role in the public rhetoric of the movement.
John Beer
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199574018
- eISBN:
- 9780191723100
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199574018.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism, 19th-century and Victorian Literature
Coleridge's early views on poetry and his growing admiration for Wordsworth, together with his realization that their ideas on poetry differ, Wordsworth pursuing his interest in nature and the life ...
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Coleridge's early views on poetry and his growing admiration for Wordsworth, together with his realization that their ideas on poetry differ, Wordsworth pursuing his interest in nature and the life of human beings in a natural setting, while Coleridge tries to develop his idea of sublimity in poetry, engaging with contemporary writing in Germany and writing poems devoted to mountainous places. His previous delight in Hellenism is supplemented by a new respect for the achievements of Hebrew poetry.Less
Coleridge's early views on poetry and his growing admiration for Wordsworth, together with his realization that their ideas on poetry differ, Wordsworth pursuing his interest in nature and the life of human beings in a natural setting, while Coleridge tries to develop his idea of sublimity in poetry, engaging with contemporary writing in Germany and writing poems devoted to mountainous places. His previous delight in Hellenism is supplemented by a new respect for the achievements of Hebrew poetry.
Harold Fisch
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198184898
- eISBN:
- 9780191674372
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198184898.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, Poetry, Shakespeare Studies
This chapter argues that Blake both identified with the spirit of the Enlightenment and found his most passionately held convictions threatened by that spirit. The clearest and subtlest statement of ...
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This chapter argues that Blake both identified with the spirit of the Enlightenment and found his most passionately held convictions threatened by that spirit. The clearest and subtlest statement of this situation is his poem, ‘Mock on, Mock on, Voltaire, Rousseau’. Here Blake actually foregrounds the dual focus that we are considering, making it the very matter of the poem. He presents the duality itself, the fundamental agon within himself and within the spiritual history of his time with such lucidity that he comes as near as anywhere in his writing to overcoming it. Blake here brilliantly combines the two voices of which we have spoken by a kind of dialogic interplay, with the poet-narrator taking both sides in the dialogue.Less
This chapter argues that Blake both identified with the spirit of the Enlightenment and found his most passionately held convictions threatened by that spirit. The clearest and subtlest statement of this situation is his poem, ‘Mock on, Mock on, Voltaire, Rousseau’. Here Blake actually foregrounds the dual focus that we are considering, making it the very matter of the poem. He presents the duality itself, the fundamental agon within himself and within the spiritual history of his time with such lucidity that he comes as near as anywhere in his writing to overcoming it. Blake here brilliantly combines the two voices of which we have spoken by a kind of dialogic interplay, with the poet-narrator taking both sides in the dialogue.
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804762939
- eISBN:
- 9780804779104
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804762939.003.0021
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Jewish Studies
This chapter presents some final thoughts from the author. This book has shown that the phenomenon of American Hebrew poetry was neither slight nor trivial, but that, despite America being the only ...
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This chapter presents some final thoughts from the author. This book has shown that the phenomenon of American Hebrew poetry was neither slight nor trivial, but that, despite America being the only major Hebrew literary center outside of Palestine/Israel, the existence of American Hebrew poetry was all but erased from accounts of Hebrew literature in the twentieth century. It is argued that there is no justification for perpetuating this exclusion, and that Hebrew plays a vital role in America, even if it lies in the domain of serious cultural literacy rather than of creative literature.Less
This chapter presents some final thoughts from the author. This book has shown that the phenomenon of American Hebrew poetry was neither slight nor trivial, but that, despite America being the only major Hebrew literary center outside of Palestine/Israel, the existence of American Hebrew poetry was all but erased from accounts of Hebrew literature in the twentieth century. It is argued that there is no justification for perpetuating this exclusion, and that Hebrew plays a vital role in America, even if it lies in the domain of serious cultural literacy rather than of creative literature.
Joachim Yeshaya
- Published in print:
- 2022
- Published Online:
- May 2022
- ISBN:
- 9780197267257
- eISBN:
- 9780191965081
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197267257.003.0010
- Subject:
- Literature, World Literature
This chapter examines a selection of Hebrew poems dealing with the Neoplatonic polarity between the material world of the body and the spiritual world of the soul. The Karaite-Jewish authors of these ...
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This chapter examines a selection of Hebrew poems dealing with the Neoplatonic polarity between the material world of the body and the spiritual world of the soul. The Karaite-Jewish authors of these selected poems lived in different historical eras and widely dispersed geographical and cultural contexts, respectively in the Muslim East, Byzantium, and Eastern Europe. The purpose of this investigation is threefold: first, this study gives additional evidence of the composition of philosophically charged Hebrew poetry outside the Iberian Peninsula, where Andalusia was singled out for its strong connection between poetry and philosophical theory; the second purpose of this chapter is to show that Karaite authors were well aware of contemporary philosophical concerns, notably the soul/body dualism characteristic of Jewish Neoplatonism; thirdly, this chapter concludes with a consideration of elements of continuity and innovation in the Karaite reception of Andalusian poems on the soul.Less
This chapter examines a selection of Hebrew poems dealing with the Neoplatonic polarity between the material world of the body and the spiritual world of the soul. The Karaite-Jewish authors of these selected poems lived in different historical eras and widely dispersed geographical and cultural contexts, respectively in the Muslim East, Byzantium, and Eastern Europe. The purpose of this investigation is threefold: first, this study gives additional evidence of the composition of philosophically charged Hebrew poetry outside the Iberian Peninsula, where Andalusia was singled out for its strong connection between poetry and philosophical theory; the second purpose of this chapter is to show that Karaite authors were well aware of contemporary philosophical concerns, notably the soul/body dualism characteristic of Jewish Neoplatonism; thirdly, this chapter concludes with a consideration of elements of continuity and innovation in the Karaite reception of Andalusian poems on the soul.
David Weinfeld (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781874774600
- eISBN:
- 9781800340701
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781874774600.003.0041
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter addresses David Weinfeld's anthology Hebrew Poetry in Poland between the Two World Wars (1997). This anthology includes two dozen Hebrew poets and is valuable if only from a historical ...
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This chapter addresses David Weinfeld's anthology Hebrew Poetry in Poland between the Two World Wars (1997). This anthology includes two dozen Hebrew poets and is valuable if only from a historical viewpoint as most of these poets are forgotten and their works are mostly unavailable. Weinfeld includes biographical details on each writer and a ninety-two-page introduction to the social and historical background, with sections on the most important of the poets, Yitzhak Katznelson (better known as a Yiddish poet), Matityahu Shoham, and especially Berl Pomerantz. However, most of the poems, Weinfeld concedes, are of limited artistic interest. This poetry is inadvertently a tombstone for Polish Hebrew literature and, indeed, for Polish Jewry. About half the poets died in the Holocaust.Less
This chapter addresses David Weinfeld's anthology Hebrew Poetry in Poland between the Two World Wars (1997). This anthology includes two dozen Hebrew poets and is valuable if only from a historical viewpoint as most of these poets are forgotten and their works are mostly unavailable. Weinfeld includes biographical details on each writer and a ninety-two-page introduction to the social and historical background, with sections on the most important of the poets, Yitzhak Katznelson (better known as a Yiddish poet), Matityahu Shoham, and especially Berl Pomerantz. However, most of the poems, Weinfeld concedes, are of limited artistic interest. This poetry is inadvertently a tombstone for Polish Hebrew literature and, indeed, for Polish Jewry. About half the poets died in the Holocaust.
David Goldstein (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781904113669
- eISBN:
- 9781800340183
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781904113669.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
The years 950–1200 are often called the Golden Age of the Jews in Spain. During this period, the Jews reached a peak of achievement in all aspects of their life — political, spiritual, and cultural. ...
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The years 950–1200 are often called the Golden Age of the Jews in Spain. During this period, the Jews reached a peak of achievement in all aspects of their life — political, spiritual, and cultural. They produced great works of literature and philosophy; their poetry represents a peak of literary achievement unparalleled in Hebrew until the twentieth century. The poets of the Golden Age forged the language of the Hebrew Bible into a magnificent instrument for the expression of every facet of their experience — love and friendship, war and exile, philosophy and prayer. Their poems reflect their overarching consciousness of Israel's relationship with God and their deep concern with the fate of the Jewish people in exile. Not until modern times did Hebrew poetic genius flourish again with such freedom and with such intensity. This book conveys in modern English something of the greatness of that literature while as far as possible preserving the poetic values and beauty of the Hebrew original. Brief notes on the work of each of the thirteen poets represented put the poems in their proper perspective and do much to elucidate their meaning.Less
The years 950–1200 are often called the Golden Age of the Jews in Spain. During this period, the Jews reached a peak of achievement in all aspects of their life — political, spiritual, and cultural. They produced great works of literature and philosophy; their poetry represents a peak of literary achievement unparalleled in Hebrew until the twentieth century. The poets of the Golden Age forged the language of the Hebrew Bible into a magnificent instrument for the expression of every facet of their experience — love and friendship, war and exile, philosophy and prayer. Their poems reflect their overarching consciousness of Israel's relationship with God and their deep concern with the fate of the Jewish people in exile. Not until modern times did Hebrew poetic genius flourish again with such freedom and with such intensity. This book conveys in modern English something of the greatness of that literature while as far as possible preserving the poetic values and beauty of the Hebrew original. Brief notes on the work of each of the thirteen poets represented put the poems in their proper perspective and do much to elucidate their meaning.
Mary Douglas
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199245413
- eISBN:
- 9780191697463
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199245413.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
This chapter identifies the units of structure in the Book of Numbers. Instead of unwarranted interruption, the periodic switch back and forth between the law sections and narrative sections is more ...
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This chapter identifies the units of structure in the Book of Numbers. Instead of unwarranted interruption, the periodic switch back and forth between the law sections and narrative sections is more like montage or cinema flash-backs. Rather than judge the book severely because the laws interrupt the narrative, the chapter finds that it is composed deliberately of two strands, one of law and one of narrative. By introducing the alternative mode each new section cuts off the previous section: the result is a pattern of alternating strands. In Numbers the sections are marked off automatically by stylistic rules which anyone can check, without making reference to the themes developed within a section. The two modes, story and law, differ in their treatment of time. The chapter demonstrates that they are an elaboration of the well-known poetic structure of parallelism which is typical of Hebrew poetry.Less
This chapter identifies the units of structure in the Book of Numbers. Instead of unwarranted interruption, the periodic switch back and forth between the law sections and narrative sections is more like montage or cinema flash-backs. Rather than judge the book severely because the laws interrupt the narrative, the chapter finds that it is composed deliberately of two strands, one of law and one of narrative. By introducing the alternative mode each new section cuts off the previous section: the result is a pattern of alternating strands. In Numbers the sections are marked off automatically by stylistic rules which anyone can check, without making reference to the themes developed within a section. The two modes, story and law, differ in their treatment of time. The chapter demonstrates that they are an elaboration of the well-known poetic structure of parallelism which is typical of Hebrew poetry.
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804762939
- eISBN:
- 9780804779104
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804762939.003.0011
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Jewish Studies
This chapter analyzes the poetry of Eisig Silberschlag, who was a lyric poet, and, unlike many other American Hebrew poets, never reached a point at which he experienced the lyric as inadequate for ...
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This chapter analyzes the poetry of Eisig Silberschlag, who was a lyric poet, and, unlike many other American Hebrew poets, never reached a point at which he experienced the lyric as inadequate for his ambitions. In fact, as he got older, his poems became even shorter and were published in a succession of volumes whose small physical size made them resemble chapbooks.Less
This chapter analyzes the poetry of Eisig Silberschlag, who was a lyric poet, and, unlike many other American Hebrew poets, never reached a point at which he experienced the lyric as inadequate for his ambitions. In fact, as he got older, his poems became even shorter and were published in a succession of volumes whose small physical size made them resemble chapbooks.
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804762939
- eISBN:
- 9780804779104
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804762939.003.0013
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Jewish Studies
This chapter analyzes the poetry of Abraham Regelson, who embraced his vocation as poet-philosopher at a young age and clung to it throughout his life, despite the fact that the world rewarded him ...
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This chapter analyzes the poetry of Abraham Regelson, who embraced his vocation as poet-philosopher at a young age and clung to it throughout his life, despite the fact that the world rewarded him little for his fidelity. Regelson's entire literary enterprise can be understood as a struggle to find poetic forms capable of accommodating his philosophical thought.Less
This chapter analyzes the poetry of Abraham Regelson, who embraced his vocation as poet-philosopher at a young age and clung to it throughout his life, despite the fact that the world rewarded him little for his fidelity. Regelson's entire literary enterprise can be understood as a struggle to find poetic forms capable of accommodating his philosophical thought.
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804762939
- eISBN:
- 9780804779104
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804762939.003.0016
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Jewish Studies
This chapter explores three Indian epics written in Hebrew: Silkiner's Mul ohel Timurah [Before the tent of Timurah] (1910), Efros' Vigvamim shoteqim [Silent wigwams] (1933), and Lisitzky's Medurot ...
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This chapter explores three Indian epics written in Hebrew: Silkiner's Mul ohel Timurah [Before the tent of Timurah] (1910), Efros' Vigvamim shoteqim [Silent wigwams] (1933), and Lisitzky's Medurot do'akhot [Dying campfires] (1937). The Indian epics were written at a time of great anxiety about the continuity and survival of the Jewish people by poets whose allegiance to Hebrew placed on their shoulders the mantle of national conscience. A closer inspection shows that these poems differ greatly in terms of the style of their composition, the historical models upon which they are based, and the contemporary dilemmas which each projects onto the lives of Native Americans who lived long ago.Less
This chapter explores three Indian epics written in Hebrew: Silkiner's Mul ohel Timurah [Before the tent of Timurah] (1910), Efros' Vigvamim shoteqim [Silent wigwams] (1933), and Lisitzky's Medurot do'akhot [Dying campfires] (1937). The Indian epics were written at a time of great anxiety about the continuity and survival of the Jewish people by poets whose allegiance to Hebrew placed on their shoulders the mantle of national conscience. A closer inspection shows that these poems differ greatly in terms of the style of their composition, the historical models upon which they are based, and the contemporary dilemmas which each projects onto the lives of Native Americans who lived long ago.