These 66 poems, here in English and Yiddish on facing pages, were collected in the first book Abraham Joshua Heschel ever published. They appeared in Warsaw in 1933 when Heschel was 26 years old and still a doctoral candidate in philosophy at the University of Berlin. Written between 1927 and 1933 - and never published in English before - this is the intimate spiritual diary of a devout European Jew, loyal to the revelation at Sinai and afflicted with reverence for all human beings. These poems sound themes that will resonate throughout Heschel's later popular writings: human holiness, a passion for truth, awe and wonder before nature, God's quest for righteousness, solidarity with the downtrodden, and unwavering commitment to tikkun olam. In these poems, we also discover a young man's acute loneliness, dismay at God's distance, and dreams of spiritual and sensual intimacy with a woman.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 5.0 / 5.0
A heart for God:
I read this book after reading Heschel's God in Search of Man. In these early poems, we see the seed that produced such rich fruit in Heschel's later years. His radically God-centered perspective is still refreshing today.
Divine Poetry:
This book is a parallel- language edition of the sixty- six poems Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote in his youth. They are faithfully and beautifully translated by Morton M. Leifman. There is an informative introduction by Edward K. Kaplan. The dual language work is laid out in a clear and readable way with the Yiddish original on the left, and the English translation on the right- facing page.
The poems themselves are rich in complex perception and idea. They contain hints of ideas which will be more... more info
66 Mystical Gems:
These poems are in class with the great mystic poets, Donne, Blake and Dickenson. Fine translation and beautiful book.
