Into the Field of Edom: Poland and the Frankist Imagination For three millennia the lands of Israel and Judea have stood at the heart of Jewish national imagination. They are the terrain of biblical kings, the stage on which the Judeans confronted Rome, and the ground on which the modern State of Israel now stands. Everywhere else is spiritual and physical exile. Against this backdrop, it is striking to discover that Poland, rather than Judea or Israel, held decisive signi

The Blinded Samson (1912) by Lovis Corinth Samson 1 The LORD is a living dread whose absence in Shiloh is more potent than his presence. Notwithstanding the regenerative Spirit whose intimate impulse is felt by the inner man, no angelic return or godly descent precedes the rousing motions of body and temple torn joint by joint. No use for Delphic oracle or word from Jerusalem. 2 Absorbed by the moon, the sun gives up its light, the stars their sweetness, and the sky is d

Cometh the Lion Cometh the Lion, cometh the hour. On his head is my name; on his back is my power. The time is narrow, and the world is wide And the Lion comes now with a spear in his side. Look how he bleeds; his flesh is a prize For the cross-hearted hunter with blood in his eyes (Brimming red in the heat of the noon) And vowing to return by the light of the moon. ‘Come follow me,’ the Lion commands, ‘Or the hunter will come and hack off your hands.

"The temple curtain made of some heavy purple fabric, with its curious pleats ..."

Photo credit: Rachel Posner / Posner Family Estate, courtesy of Shulamit Mansbach, Haifa, Israel / yadvashem.org “Our holiday has been...

Yehudah, I Make You Mine From out of the banks of the muddy Jordan River, I make you Mine. Into shape I press the grit, into shape I knead the clay And your body clings to my fingers. I knead and a verb puts you in motion. I cut and I layer and an adjective fleshes out your shape. I slap and I roll and a rhyme gives you weight. I model and I sculpt and a noun marks you as a thing. With a name, I form you in my image (Your name is on my tongue). With a name, I firm you

Zechariah The brickwork is broken, Gardens are in disarray, The iron gates swing free from their hinges, Rain sings in the gutters & the earth beneath my feet is possessed by evil spirits. How the giants have fallen! How the angels have vanished! Gone are the generations that once stood their ground (Bright were their faces; Noisy was their talk with childish laughter). War, plague, flood and drought have left their marks On the foreheads o

Promise to Abraham Abraham, it is time to leave your lonely tent. Find a vacant spot in the belly of your heart and learn to fear the Lord. Stop seeking the wind that blows this way and that; come out from behind that fig tree and walk straight. Do not hide your thoughts from me or turn your hand to smooth things. Abraham, you are a dry land without green shoots. But I am making you a gift of wild grasses and flowers, of flowing rivers and fertile soil. It will be for you an

Letter to Iyov Before I had to chance to complete my creation I was cast down by the rebel angels and made to suffer this, my exile. Creation evolved and I was able to converse with man in the ear of his mind. It was I who hid in the fiery tree and called out to the shepherd. I spoke to my people in thunder. There we were, in shadows, in the fog of misunderstanding. I was there when my people fought

Image, Idol, Dream Abraham prepared a table before me Even as I spoke harshly of the desert’s hot kisses. He moistened my head with oil. “You are safe,” he said. “My people will fight for you.” If I was a fugitive, I was no longer a stranger in his tent. He filled my cup to the brim As if I was a visiting king. I said: “I have found satisfaction in God. I need nothing else.” We sat and ate. He talked of Abel and Seth, Of the riddles of Shem and his book of secrets, Of his own