Tag
Poetry
7 articles
Jewish Literature: A Survey
Jewish literature spans three thousand years — from the Psalms and Song of Songs through medieval Hebrew poetry, Yiddish masters like Sholem Aleichem, and modern voices from Isaac Bashevis Singer to Amos Oz.
Psalms (Tehillim): The Songs of Israel
The 150 psalms of Tehillim — attributed to King David — are the prayer book of the Jewish people, spanning praise and lament, thanksgiving and anguish, across three thousand years of worship.
Parashat Ha'azinu: Moses's Song — Heaven and Earth as Witnesses
Parashat Ha'azinu is Moses's great poetic song — calling heaven and earth as witnesses, recounting God's faithfulness and Israel's ingratitude, and ending with God's command to Moses to ascend Mount Nebo and die.
Leonard Cohen: The Poet Who Sang Through the Cracks
A Montreal rabbi's grandson became one of the most important poets and songwriters of the twentieth century. Leonard Cohen spent decades searching for God through poetry, music, Buddhism, and Judaism — and found that the light gets in through the cracks.
Emma Lazarus: The Poet Who Gave America Its Voice of Welcome
She wrote the most famous words in American immigration history — 'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.' Emma Lazarus was a Sephardic Jewish poet who fought for refugees, envisioned a Jewish homeland, and died at thirty-eight.
Hannah Senesh: The Poet-Paratrooper Who Became Israel's National Hero
Hannah Senesh left the safety of Palestine to parachute behind Nazi lines in an attempt to rescue Hungarian Jews, becoming one of Israel's most revered national heroes and a beloved poet.
Allen Ginsberg: The Jewish Beat Poet Who Howled Against America
Allen Ginsberg's poem 'Howl' launched the Beat Generation and changed American poetry forever, drawing on his Jewish heritage, mysticism, and radical politics.