The Poets of Jewish Transformation: The Twentieth Century
The trials and triumphs of the Jewish people in the the twentieth century were monumental, transformative – one could even say biblical in their drama and significance. The voices that found words to describe these Jewish experiences were, unsurprisingly, the great poets of the age.
In this three-session sequence, we will focus on three of these poets, reading some of their verse as well as commentary by thinkers who explain their importance. We will begin with a study of the Zionist poetry of Rahel Bluwstein, whose work encapsulated the longing and despair of 20th-Century Jewry prior to the founding of the Jewish state. We will then continue by looking at Jacob Glatstein, whose poetry grappled with the paradox of Jewish suffering alongside Jewish chosenness. We will end with an examination of Natan Alterman, whose poetry opens a window into the opening years of the Jewish state.
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Rahel, Four Poems
Series: Jewish Transformation: Three Poets | Click here to read the poems
Yankev Glatshteyn, Four Poems
Series: Jewish Transformation: Three Poets | Click here to read the poems
Natan Alterman, Three Poems
Series: Jewish Transformation: Three Poets | Click here to read the poems
Rabbi Gamliel Shmalo
Rabbi Gamliel Shmalo has taught Jewish philosophy and law at Yeshiva University. He holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and an MA from Hebrew University in Jerusalem in Jewish Philosophy. He has also studied at Machon Shlomo, Yeshivat Kerem B’Yavneh, Heichal HaTorah B’Tzion, and Beit Ariel Jerusalem. He has published widely on Jewish themes, and he lectures internationally. He was the Director of Education for Meor NYU, and before returning to the U.S. he was on the faculty of Michlalah Jerusalem College and Yeshivat Ohr Yerushalyim for ten years. His book Learning to Grow is published by Kodesh Press.
Alan Rubenstein
Alan Rubenstein was educated in Liberal Arts at St. John’s College in Annapolis, MD, and also at Georgetown University. He was a senior consultant for the President’s Council on Bioethics and currently serves as Hanson Scholar of Ethics at Carleton College in Northfield, MN. At Carleton, he teaches ethical thought through close reading of great literature of the West—in particular, Plato, the Hebrew Bible, and Shakespeare. He is currently Director of University Programs for the Tikvah Fund. His published essays have focused on the philosopher Hans Jonas, the Hebrew Bible, and Judaism in middle America. He is married and a father of three children.