Modern Poems with Biblical themes Assembled for Novel Midrash

Akedat Yitzhak

Wilfred Owen, 1917 The Parable of the Old Man and the Young

So Abram rose, and clave the wood, and went, And took the fire with him, and a knife. And as they sojourned both of them together, Isaac the first-born spake and said, My Father, Behold the preparations, fire and iron, But where the lamb for his burnt-offering? Then Abram bound the youth with belts and straps, And builded parapets and trenches there, And stretched forth the knife to slay his son. When lo! An angel called him out of heaven, Saying, Lay not thy hand upon the lad, Neither do anything to him. Behold, A ram, caught in a thicket by its horns; Offer the Ram of Pride instead of him. But the old man would not so, but slew his son, And half the seed of Europe, one by one.

Modern Poems on the Bible an Anthology Edited with an Introduction by David Curzon P. 140

Novel Midrash, Rabbi Miriam T. Spitzer Modern poems based on Biblical stories and characters p.1 עקידת יצחק Akedat Yitzhak Words and tune by Naomi Shemer נעמי שמר :To listen מילים ולחן: נעמי שמר https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKyCptX1cZw קיימים 3 ביצועים נוספים לשיר זה Take your son קח את בנך Your only one whom you love את יחידך אשר אהבת Take Yitzhak קח את יצחק And offer him up as a burnt-offering והעלהו לעולה Upon one of the mountains על אחד ההרים In a place I will point out to you Offer him up as a burnt-offering במקום אשר אומר אליך Upon one of the mountains והעלהו לעולה In the land of Moriah על אחד ההרים בארץ מוריה And from all the mountains in that land A great cry will rise up: ומכל ההרים שבארץ ההיא, Behold the fire and behold the wood תעלה צעקה גדולה: And behold, here is the lamb for the הנה האש והנה העצים burnt-offering והינהו השה לעולה Master of the Universe who is filled with compassion ריבונו של עולם המלא רחמים Against the boy your hand do not raise אל הנער ידך אל תשלח Against the boy your hand do not raise אל הנער ידך אל תשלח - Even should we sevenfold live and grow old גם אם שבע נחיה ונזקין We will not forget that the knife was לא נשכח כי הונף הסכין raised לא נשכח את בנך We will not forget your son Your only one את יחידך אשר אהבנו Whom we loved לא נשכח את יצחק We will not forget Yitzhak

Translated by Miriam Spitzer

Novel Midrash, Rabbi Miriam T. Spitzer Modern poems based on Biblical stories and characters p.2 Yehuda Amichai The True Hero of the Akeda

The real hero of The Binding of Isaac was the ram, who didn’t know about the collusion between the others. He was volunteered to die instead of Isaac. I want to sing a memorial song about him— about his curly wool and his human eyes, about the horns that were so silent on his living head, and how they made those horns into shofars when he was slaughtered to sound their battle cries or to blare out their obscene joy. I want to remember the last frame like a photo in an elegant fashion magazine: the young man tanned and pampered in his jazzy suit and beside him the angel, dressed for a formal reception in a long silk gown, both of them looking with empty eyes at two empty places, and behind them, like a colored backdrop, the ram, caught in the thicket before the slaughter, the thicket his last friend. The angel went home. Isaac went home. Abraham and God had gone long before. But the real hero of The Binding of Isaac is the ram.

Amichai, Selected Poetry 156-7. Translated by Chana Bloch.

Novel Midrash, Rabbi Miriam T. Spitzer Modern poems based on Biblical stories and characters p.3 Blue

The sea was blue against the golden sand, and my mother's black hair flowed like the sea. As always, Mother, you were all there in the moment. I was just a child, but I remember it like it was yesterday.

You had my sister on your hip in a sling and you held my hand in yours. You sang to us both as we crossed the sea, step by muddy, exhilarated step.

That trip through the waters took a lifetime. Water on the left, water on the right, the blue sky above. I was too small to see above the waters, to see what lay ahead or what lay behind, but I didn't worry because I could see you by my side, my hand in your hand.

And then we got to the other side. And the first thing you did was to take off my sandals and rub my feet. How did you know my feet needed your touch? How do you know these things?

Then you handed my sister to me, and you took your timbrel and started dancing with the women. Recently someone remarked to me about your tremendous foresight, that when the people were leaving Egypt you not only thought to take your tambourine, but you reminded the others to take theirs as well. I guess it was amazing foresight, to realize in advance that the people would need music, but it never occurred to me before, because I cannot even imagine you without your tambourine near-by. Even as water has figured in your life, so too has music.

So there you were, dancing by the shore. I remember holding the baby and swaying to your rhythm. Even in the heat of the moment you did not forget me and you looked over to me and our eyes met.

I think of this now, Mother, as I watch you journey hand in hand with my own daughter, flesh of my flesh, who nourished from my milk as I did from yours. And I look at you and at her, and our eyes meet.

Rabbi Miriam T. Spitzer 1996

Novel Midrash, Rabbi Miriam T. Spitzer Modern poems based on Biblical stories and characters p.4 Judges, chapter 5

חיים גורי Haim Gouri "אמו" His Mother

ִל ְפנֵי ָשנִים, ַבסוף ִשי ַרת ְדבו ָרה ,It was years ago, at the end of Deborah’s Song I heard the silence of Sisera’s chariot so long in ָש ַמ ְע ִתי ֶאת דו ִמיַת ֶר ֶכב סיסרא ֲא ֶשר בו ֵשש ָלבוא coming, ַמ ִביט ְב ֻאמו ֶשל סיסרא ַהנִ ְש ֶק ֶפת ַב ַחלון ,I watch Sisera’s mother peer out of the window ִא ָשה ֶש ַפס ֶכ ֶסף ַב ַש ֲע ָרה .A woman with a silver streak in her hair ְש ַלל ְצ ָב ִעים ִר ְק ָמה This is what the maidens saw: A spoil of ֶצ ַבע ְר ַק ְמ ִתים ְל ַצ ָוא ִרי ָש ַלל, ָראו ַהנְ ָערות ,multi-hued embroidery Multi-hued embroideries two for the throat of או ָתה ָש ָעה ָש ַכב ָבא ֹ ֶהל ְכנִ ְר ָדם each despoiler. יָ ָדיו ֵריקות ֵמ ֵאד That very hour he lay in the tent as one asleep ַעל ַסנְ ֵטרו ִע ְקבות ֲח ֵלב ֶח ְמאה ְו ָדם .His hands quite empty ַהדו ִמיָה לא נִ ְש ְב ָרה ֶאל ַהסו ִסים ְו ֶאל ַה ֶמ ְר ָכבות .On his chin traces of milk, butter, blood ַגם ַהנְ ָערות ָש ְתקו א ַחת אחר א ַחת The silence was not broken by horses and ְש ִתי ָק ִתי נָגְ ָעה ִב ְש ִתי ָק ָתן .chariots Even the maidens fell silent one after another. א ַחר זְ ַמן- ַמה ָש ְק ָעה ַה ֶש ֶמש My silence reached out to theirs. א ַחר זְ ַמן- ַמה ָכבו ַה ִד ְמדו ִמים .After a while sunset א ְר ָב ִעים ָשנָה ְש ֵק ָטה ָהא ֶרץ. א ְר ָב ִעים ָשנָה .After a while the afterglow is gone לא ָד ֲהרו סו ִסים ו ָפ ָר ִשים ֵמ ִתים לא נָ ֲעצו ֵעינֵי Forty years the land knew peace. Forty years זְכו ִכית No horses galloped, no dead horsemen stared glassily. ֲא ָבל ִהיא ֵמתה, זְ ַמן ָק ָצר אחר מות ְבנָה But her death came soon after her son’s.

Translated from the Hebrew By Warren Bargad and Stanley F. Chyet Modern Poems on the Bible an Anthology Edited with an Introduction by David Curzon P. 187

Novel Midrash, Rabbi Miriam T. Spitzer Modern poems based on Biblical stories and characters p.5 Jacob and the Angel By Yehuda Amichai

Just before dawn she sighed and held him that way, and defeated him. And he held her that way, and defeated her, and both of them knew that a hold brings death. They agreed to do without names.

But in the first light he saw her body, which remained white in the places the swimsuit had covered, yesterday.

Then someone called her suddenly from above, twice. The way you call a little girl from playing in the yard. And he knew her name; and let her go.

Translated from the Hebrew by Stephen Mitchell, Modern Poems on the Bible an Anthology Edited with an Introduction by David Curzon pgs. 156

Novel Midrash, Rabbi Miriam T. Spitzer Modern poems based on Biblical stories and characters p.6 David Curzon Psalm 1

Blessed is the man not born in Lodz in the wrong decade, who walks not in tree-lined shade like my father’s father in this photo, nor stands in the way of sinners waiting for his yellow star, nor sits, if he could sit, in their cattle car, but his delight is being born as I was, in Australia, far away, and on God’s law he meditates night and day. He is like a tree that’s granted the land where it is planted, that yields its fruit by reason of sun and rain in season.

The wicked are not so, they burn their uniforms and walk away.

Therefore the wicked are like Cain who offered fruit which God chose to disdain.

And the way of the righteous is Abel’s, whose slaughtered lambs God chose to choose and who was murdered anyway.

Modern Poems on the Bible an Anthology Edited with an Introduction by David Curzon p. 271

Novel Midrash, Rabbi Miriam T. Spitzer Modern poems based on Biblical stories and characters p.7 Dan Pagis Scrawled in Pencil in a Sealed Railroad Car here in this transport i eve and abel my son if you should see my older son cain son of man tell him that i

Translated from Hebrew by Robert Friend

Written in Pencil in the Sealed Railroad Car By Dan Pagis

In this transport here I, Eve with my son Abel If you should see my elder son Cain ben Adam Tell him that I

Translated from Hebrew by Miriam Spitzer

Novel Midrash, Rabbi Miriam T. Spitzer Modern poems based on Biblical stories and characters p.8 יִ ְר ְמיָהו – שלמה טנאי Jeremiah, by Shlomo Tanny Translated by Jeffrey Spitzer וְיִ ְר ְמיָהו א ַמר ִד ְב ֵרי ֱא ֶמת, Jeremiah spoke words of truth ִ ִ ִ ֵ Bitter words, hard and unvarnished ָמרים, ָקשים וְלא כחד. words ֻח ְר ָבן ִה ְב ִט ַיח יִ ְר ְמיָהו, Jeremiah promised destruction ע ֹנֶש ַעל ָה ֱא ֶמת וְלא ִטיַח. A punishment for the truth, and he didn’t whitewash it. ֵבית ַה ִמ ְק ָדש, ֶשעוד ִע ְמ ֵעם The Temple, which was already dulled ִ ַ ַ Under the bitter, hard truth מתחת ֶל ֱא ֶמת ָמ ָרה, ָק ָשה, Slowly, slowly collapsed and was ְלאט ְלאט ָק ַרס וְנֶ ֱה ַרס. .destroyed וְיִ ְר ְמיָהו עוד מו ֵטט, מו ֵתת And Jeremiah, still falling, dying ִ ִ ַ And no stone was left on another וְ ֶא ֶבן לא ה ְשאיר על ֶא ֶבן – .And his words were all true ו ְד ָב ָריו ֻכ ָלם ֱא ֶמת. And when Nebuchadnezzar came to ו ְבבוא נְבו ַכ ְדנֶ ַצר ִלירו ָש ַליִם Jerusalem ָהיְ ָתה ְכ ָבר ֲחלו ָלה ֻכ ָלה. .It was already completely desecrated

ו ְליִ ְר ְמיָהו הוא ָח ַלק ָכבוד And to Yirmiyahu, he bestowed respect ַ For the truth, even though it was על ָה ֱא ֶמת, ֶש ָש ֲח ָקה וְ ֶשנָ ְק ָבה. ,eroded and full of holes וְנִ ְש ֲא ָרה ָלנֶ ַצ ַח ָה ֱא ֶמת, Yet the truth remains forever ַאך לא ָהיְ ָתה עוד יְרו ָש ַליִם. Even though there was no longer a Jerusalem.

See Jeremiah 7

Novel Midrash, Rabbi Miriam T. Spitzer Modern poems based on Biblical stories and characters p.9 Two Yehudah Amichai poems about Moshe Rabbenu יהודה עמיחי, "פתוח סגור פתוח" משה רבנו ראה רק פעם אחת את פני האלוקים Moshe Rabben only once saw the face of God ושכח. הוא לא רצה לראות את המדבר And forgot. He did not want to see the desert ואפלו לא את הארץ המבטחת, אלא רק את פני .and not even the Promised Land, but only the face of God האלקים. He hit the rock in the passion of his longing He went up Mount Sinai and came down, he smashed the הוא הכה בסלע בזעם געגועיו two הוא עלה להר סיני וירד, הוא שבר את שני Tablets of the Covenant and made a calf of gold, he לוחות הברית ועשה עגל זהב, הוא חפש searched באש ובעשן, אבל הוא זכר רק את in fire and cloud, but he could remember only God’s strong יד האלקים החזקה ואת זרועו הנטויה hand and God’s outstretched arm ולא את פניו והיה כמו אדם שרוצה but not God’s face; and he was like a person לזכר את פני מי שאהב ולא יוכל. .who tries to remember the face of a lover but cannot do הוא עשה לעצמו קלסתרון מפני He made for himself a sketching taking from the face האלקים ופני הסנה הבוער ופני of God and the face of the Burning Bush and the face of בת פרעה שנרכנה מעליו כשהיה תינוק בתבה, the daughter of Pharaoh who imprinted on him when he was a baby in the basket והפיץ את התמונה בכל שבטי ישראל And he circulated the picture among all the tribes of Israel ובכל המדבר, אבל איש לא ראה and all over the desert, but no one had seen ואיש לא הכיר. ורק בסוף חייו, ,and no one recognized. And only at the end of his life על הר נבו ראה ומת On Mount Nebo he saw and died בנשיקת פני האלקים. .With the kiss from the face of God

Moshe Rabbenu when he stood on Mount Nebo was the first to say in his heart, “My heart is in the West and I am at the edge of the East,” but he also said, “My heart is in the East and I am at the edge of the West” and thus began the Great Voyage, the Great Jewish Journey. Mount Nebo served as the Great Divide for his yearnings. He yearned for the land of Canaan he would never see, but he turned east, toward the desert of those forty years, and wrote the Torah as a travel book, a memoir, every chapter with something very personal that was his alone—like Pharaoh’s daughter, like his sister Miriam, And his brother Aaron, and his Black wife, and the Ten Commandments.

Novel Midrash, Rabbi Miriam T. Spitzer Modern poems based on Biblical stories and characters p.10 Amalek Song of Ezekiel By Friedrich Torberg Paul Wilbur I hear the sound of the prophet Thus spoke the Lord to Israel; Declaring the world of the lord Because you are my chosen people, And I hear the voice of ezekiel you shall not hate the ones I did not choose, Prophesying to these dry bones nor shall you fall into the sin of pride. Live again, live again Reserve your rancor if they do you harm, Those who were sleeping do not turn bitter if they show their scorn, Those in the grave neither Babylon nor Edom shall you hate, Live again, live again not the Assyrian nor the Edomite. Those who were sleeping And even he who boasted with a hardened heart Those in the grave live again that he would snuff you out of life and breath, I hear the sound of an army he who paid the price with man and horse— A nation preparing for war even the Egyptian you shall forgive. And I can hear judah assembling But he who slew you from behind, Praise and weapons of war once you escaped from Pharaoh’s ruthless men Live again, live again and made your way towards the Promised Land, Those who were sleeping open to every hope and all deceit, Those in the grave He who struck your old and weak, Live again, live again who would not let you go your way— Those who were sleeping Amalek, the enemy of Israel— Those in the grave live again him, said the Lord, him you shall hate. Breath of god from the four winds blow Breathe live again, to these dry bones Translated from the German by Erna Baber Rosenfeld, Modern Poems on the Bible an Anthology Breath of god from the four winds blow Edited with an Introduction by David Curzon pg. 177 Breathe live again, to these dry bones Arise, arise, arise Deuteronomy 25:17-18 Here and now Arise, arise, arise Here and now Oh arise I hear the voice of…

Source: Musixmatch

Novel Midrash, Rabbi Miriam T. Spitzer Modern poems based on Biblical stories and characters p.11 Anna Kamienska From “The Second Happiness of Job”

The Return of Job

Job didn’t die didn’t throw himself under a train didn’t croak in a vacant lot the chimney didn’t spew him out despair didn’t finish him off he arose from everything from misery dirt scabs loneliness How much more authentic a dead Job would be even after death shaking his fist at the God of pain But Job survived washed his body of blood sweat pus and lay down in his own house again New friends came running A new wife was breathing new love into his mouth new children were growing up with soft hair for Job to touch with his hands new sheep donkeys oxen were bellowing shaking new shackles in the stables kneeling down on the straw But happy Job didn’t have strength to be happy afraid by another happiness to betray happiness afraid by another life to betray life Wouldn’t it be better for you Job to rot in a lost paradise with the dead than to wait now for their nightly visit in dreams they come they envy you life Wouldn’t it be better happy Job to remain offal since you are offal the pus washed off your hands and face ate through you to heart and liver You will die Job Wouldn’t it have been better for you to die with the others in the same pain and mourning than to depart now from a new happiness You walk in the dark wrapped in darkness among new people superfluous as a pang of conscience you suffered by pain now suffer by happiness And Job whispered stubbornly Lord Lord

Translated from the Polish by Grazyna Drabik and David Curzon pg. 311 Modern Poems on the Bible an Anthology Edited with an Introduction by David Curzon Novel Midrash, Rabbi Miriam T. Spitzer Modern poems based on Biblical stories and characters p.12