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REVIEWS Poetry entation of the topics is inappropriate. Rabbi Soloveitchik and Berkovits sought to create a legion of Modern Orthodox Jews who are involved in full Orthodox observance, ongoing rabbinic text studies, a college education, a job in the secular or Jewish world, and engagement in serious philosophic and theological studies. The absolute primacy of halakha in Rabbi Soloveitchik’s writings and the place of ethics in Rabbi Berkovits’ philosophy are crucial to understanding their respective outlooks. Theory must drive practice. The topics selected such as the study of Torah, performance of commandments, individual versus community, exile, the chosenness of the Jewish people, and the role of the Land of Israel are important and need to be clarified in layman’s terms. Using the language of philosophers only appeals to other philosophers. The Holocaust played an important role in Rabbi Berkovits’ writings and its omission in this discussion is unfortunate. Rabbi Soloveitchik’s writings require great effort to master. Not since Maimonides have we seen a master of the entire rabbinic corpus express himself in the idiom of the great philosophers. It is therefore important to disseminate and make accessible the writings of great Jewish thinkers who worked to bridge the chasm which some think exists between modernity and traditional Judaism. Rabbi Soloveitchik showed the eternal verity of Judaism while Rabbi Berkovits favored a more developmental approach. In either case the synthesis is shown to work. WG POETRY Yakov Azriel Time Being Press, 2009. 118 pp. $15.95 ISBN: 978-156809128-0 BEADS FOR THE MESSIAH’S BRIDE: POEMS ON LEVITICUS Poetry about religion often implies a dichotomy between an ideal way of living inspired by the Divine and human evil. The split may become even more obvious when considering the Book of Leviticus, which 58 Jewish Book World Spring 5770/2010 details numerous religious prohibitions and the severe consequences of disobeying any of these laws. Yakov Azriel writes beyond the dry, relentlessly harsh quality of Leviticus and brings the heart to this topic in this collection. Consider the title poem, in which the author hopes that his meditations may expand beyond their surface appearance, “May songs I write be brought as beads—/ Beads for the Messiah’s wife...Perhaps she’ll take the beads I string/To wear when she celebrates.” Linking one’s humanity with a plea for prayer and deep worship is central to Azriel’s vision and quest in which, “...And there are the truly righteous...Their soul becomes a mirror they hold up/To God, reflecting His face,/To God, the soul of the world.” The beautiful sonnets and free verse of Beads are a wonderful starting point for Torah study, repentance, and true worship. DS IN MY BUSTAN: POEMS Michal Mahbgerefteh Poetica Publishing Company, 2009. 77 pp. $13.00 ISBN: 978-1-61539-247-6 ustan” can be translated as life, gar- “Bden, or orchard. Many of Michal Mahbgerefteh’s poems are reflections on Israel beyond surface appearances, as in “Peaceful Thoughts to My Sleep,” “...I want to walk in your bustan to the scent/of the sweet lemon tree...My heart aches for/your laughter and spices, but tonight the/cold silvery skies brought a peaceful thought/to my sleep; your presence is a beacon/to my wondering thoughts stirring formless/beginnings full of strength and vigor.” The reader also perceives the anguish the author felt on watching her mother die from cancer and on considering the agony of terrorism and war that Israel continues to experience; but infusing these starker realities is a sensitive, hopeful vitality, as in “Psalm for Peace,” which repeats the refrain, “If I could only make the/dark fall in love with the light.” The last section returns to the defining identity of this very talented poet, “Yuk- Hay-Vav-Hay,” “...When your name/rests upon my lips/sweetness enriches/the edge of my soul/letter by letter.” DS SHADOW ARCHITECT Emily Warn Copper Canyon Press, 2008. 139 pp. $15.00 ISBN: 978-1-55659-277-5 Poetry heightens the reader’s appreciation of material and spiritual experience, especially if that poetry adds an extraordinary perception about the power of letters which combine to form literal and figurative words. Emily Warn’s collection specifically addresses the Hebrew alphabet, each letter addressed in three poems intentionally focused on form, name, and number, followed by three short but apt quotations from notable authors. These are further divided into linear stories, a series of trials, and the insights of a “realized adept,” one who has plumbed the depths of exploration in this world encompassing the scale from traditional Gematria studies all the way to the contemporary meditative sensory images. While these poems can be experienced with the general appreciation one gives to literal or abstract art, familiarity and even scholarly study of the Hebrew alphabet can only enhance the realm one enters when reading, for example, “The Soul’s Chisel” (mem): “A wide brown river swirls through boulders./Downstream bubbles pop in calmer pools...You hide in a cleft of rock/to watch God pass by...” The rocks and water are one, each absorbing life from the other; so it is with faith touched by the letters of God. DS STEERAGE Bert Stern Ibbetson Street Press, 2009. 88 pp. $15.00 ISBN: 978-0-9795313-8-5 Like children of the Holocaust, those whose parents suffered from pogroms or who were forced from their homeland www.jewishbookcouncil.org
ecause of religious persecution carry the scars forever. The cost of such escape never seems to leave Bert Stern, one example of an adult son who knows, as he states so directly in “Lotty is Born,” “...let them tell me if they can/if I am recompense for what they endured.” The remaining five parts of this notable collection might be described as an appreciation for the beauty and fragility of life thereafter. In the title poem, Stern notes the full effect of such survival, “...he said what he hoped,/as if God gave us life/as we want it. But order is like houses children weave from grasses, twigs/and leaves.” Nature as it appears in upstate Buffalo, New York is a repeated mirror image of deep beauty and death, with the latter being existentially, not morbidly, depicted. One other outstanding poem is “Midrash: Abraham” in which after his son remains after the great sacrifice “...broken there, complete and alone,/bent by perfection.” Steerage is a celebration of new life forever renewed by the past. DS THESE MOUNTAINS: SELECTED POEMS OF RIVKA MIRIAM Rivka Miriam; Linda Stern Zisquit, trans. Toby Press, 2009. 260 pp. $14.95 (pbk.) ISBN: 978-159-264-249-6 (pbk.) These Mountains: Selected Poems of Rivka Miriam, translated and with an introduction by Linda Stern Zisquit, is the first time that a book-length translation of the poet’s work appears in English. As such, this new book makes an important contribution to contemporary Hebrew poetry available in English. Readers should be especially grateful that the publisher, Toby Press, continues to publish volumes of translated poetry that contain both the original Hebrew and the English side-by-side. This dual-language presentation adds depth even for those with only minimal Hebrew skills. Rivka Miriam, born in Israel in 1952, is a child of Holocaust survivors who became a published poet at the age of fourteen. Her earliest poems were inspired by what she had learned about the Holocaust and her family’s experience. She is similarly influenced by Jewish texts and religious and theological www.jewishbookcouncil.org ideas, some of which seeps into and infuses the poetry. Rivka Miriam’s poems are deceptively simple at times. The language is straightforward, yet worlds are contained within it. Some lines come directly from Biblical or liturgical texts, while others could be everyday speech. Biblical characters are featured in many poems, as in “The Stripes in Joseph’s Coat” which employs an economy of language to paint a rich history of Joseph’s whole ancestry. “The Song to Jacob who Moved the Stone from the Mouth of the Well” is a powerful, moving interpretation of the relationship between Jacob and Leah, told from Leah’s perspective, which contains the lines, “Flocks of sheep hummed beneath our blankets,/tent-flies were pulled to the wind,” and ends with the lines, “And he didn’t know I was Leah/And flocks of sons broke through my womb to his hands.” This poem functions as modern midrash, which gives Leah a voice and adds a perspective missing from the Biblical text. God, too, appears frequently in the poems, an intimate presence with whom the poet is in relationship, as in “Still,” in which God knocks on the window and enters the room. Many of the poems use maternal imagery such as breasts and nursing, as in “I Nurse a Very Old Woman,” or “Oh My Mother.” Sometimes these images are comforting and nurturing, but they can also be quite disturbing, as in the images of children suckling ash and leaves in “Never Will I Be Like the Mother in the Picture” or fire asking to be nursed in “The Fire, Blushing from Fear.” The land of Israel is also a common theme in Miriam’s poetry. She writes of a mystical connection to the land, markedly different from so many of her Israeli peers who respond with irony when exploring a connection to the land. Hers is an unironic relationship, one that is deeply physical and sensual. The land in her poetry is a living being, a friend and sometimes a lover. In “These Mountains” the mountains sit in armchairs and eat cake like comfortable visitors while in “Lest it Be Revealed” in which “Only when my land is asleep/spread out before me/I whisper whisper her name/and she moans.” There are references in this poetry to the pain and trauma of the Holocaust that Miriam’s family experienced. The two related poems “Chaya’s Unborn Child” and “And Shalom, Chaya’s Husband” speak of violence and loss with poignancy while avoiding any hint of sentimentality. These poems are dis- Visual Arts quieting, disturbing. There is a sense that the poet cannot help but bring forth what her legacy has bequeathed her, and that she is continually trying, over and over, to make sense of her family history of European suffering and the struggle of modern Israel. Linda Zisquit has done a masterful job in these translations. She manages to convey both the directness and the richness of the Hebrew, while making the poems read as if they were always meant to be read in English. I can only hope that Miriam and Zisquit will continue to collaborate for years to come, and bring forth many more such volumes of achingly beautiful poetry. Interview with Rivka Miriam, notes, translator’s note. HEP VISUAL ARTS REVIEWS THE BOOK OF GENESIS Robert Crumb; Robert Alter, trans. W.W. Norton & Company, 2009. 214 pp. $24.95 ISBN: 978-0-393-06102-4 Finally! An adult version of one of the world’s most widespread and debated books gets inked. Esteemed artist and illustrator Robert Crumb greets this project with open arms; a graphical adaptation of all 50 chapters of Genesis. Crumb is known for his distinctive drawing style, critical and satirical views of mainstream America, and involvement in the underground comic scene, often depicting content forbidden in conventional publications. Some feel Crumb is a wonderfully unlikely candidate to breathe new life into the founding narrative of privilege and authority in the Judeo-Christian world. To his defense, Crumb’s goals were not to be comedic or ironic but rather to interpret this sacred text completely through his own style of illustration. As he states in the introduction, “there was no monkeying around with the text.” Crumb has done a fantastic job of delivering all 50 chapters without deviation or abomination. To maintain authenticity, the entire book is drawn with ink and remains in black and white. Crumb refrains from delving into the typical grotesque and pornographic illustrations for which he is known, a challenge which he met with grace—despite his Spring 5770/2010 Jewish Book World 59
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Spring 5770/2010 Vol. 28, Number 1
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Now available from the Jewish Book
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JEWISHBOOKAWARDS The following syno
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Page 15 and 16: Finalists: THE WARSAW GHETTO: A GUI
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Page 27 and 28: A Conversation with David Sax By La
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Page 43 and 44: JEWISH SLOW COOKER RECIPES Laura Fr
Page 45 and 46: JUDAISM: A WAY OF BEING David Geler
Page 47 and 48: TOOLBOX FOR TEACHERS AND MENTORS: M
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Page 51 and 52: Shushan “Shoeshine” Cats, a sel
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Page 69 and 70: A CHAT WITH ZACHARYSHAPIRO By Barba
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