Yehudah Halevi-Zion's Poet Laureate
(Continued from Page 6)
land. He answers that there is a defin-
ite connection between the people and
the land, so that only Jews are suscep-
tible to the influence of the country. It
is, he says, like transplanting a tree: it
will flower and bear fruit in one soil,
but wither and die in another. Halevi
then pointed out the place of the He-
brew language in the great organic unity
which is the Jew. The sanctity which
pervades the land and the people also
pervades their language : this language
has been chosen by God as the vehicle
for His'Law, and also to convey the great
ideas of the Prophets. This language,
too, possesses peculiarities of beauty and
purity which are unique.
Thus, in his own masterly way. Ye-
hudah Halevi formulated. a deep con-
ception, of divinity, of Jewish ethics
and of the nobility of Israel and the
sanctity of Israel's land and language
through which everything would some
day be revived in the full splendor of
its moral perfection.
The longing for the restoration of
the Jews to their land was intensified
in Yehudah Halevi's time, as in all
others. by the insecurity and unnatural-
ness of the Jewish position in the dias-
pora. As the Christians fought to re-
conquer Spain from the Moslems, the
Jewish population was forcibly shifted
about, always dependent on the grace of
individual rulers. At the same time the
Crusades were bringing death and de-
struction to community after • commun-
ity of Ettropean Jews.
Yehudah Halevi could no longer en-
dure the shame of staying in exile. His
very food turned bitter in his mouth:
My heart is in the east, and I in the
uttermost west--
How can I find say& in food? How
shall it be sweet to me?
How shall I render my vows and my
bonds, while yet
Zion is beneath the fetter of Edorn,
and I in Arab chains?
A light thing it would seem to me to
leave all the good things of Spain— had moved from Toledo, and grandchil-
dren, and joyous holidays and the pleas-
Seeing how precious in mine eyes it
ant synagogue, and fine pupils—a whole
is to behold the dust of the des-
class of them whom he called his "gar-
olate sanctuary.
He thus pours forth his longing for den", and whom he nurtured tenderly.
The longing burned in him and he could
Jerusa lem :
not but go on:
Beauty of elevation! Joy to the world!
My desire for the living God- hath
City of the Great King!
constrained me
For thee my soul is longing from the
limits of the West.
To seek the place of the throne of
The tumult of my tenderness is stirred
mine awrz ointed-
when I remember
Even so that it hath not suffered me
The glory of old that is departed—
to kiss
.thine habitation which is desolate.
The children of my house, my friends
that
I
might
fly
on
eagles'
wings,
0
and my brethern.
That I might water thy dust with my
His poetry now became the log of his
tears until they mingle together.
journey, a great poet's deeply felt, vivid,
I have sought thee, even though thy
moving account of dangers endured with
King be• not i.n, thee and though
courage for the sake of the goal to-
in place
wards which the stormy sea was carry-
Of thy Gilead's balm, are now the fiery
ing him. In a world where there • was
serpent and the scorpion
Shall I not be tender to thy stones nothing but "water and sky and ship,"
the boat was tossed about like a play-
and kiss them.,
thing and even the sailors trembled and
And the taste of thy soil be sweeter
sea monsters pressed around, "watching
than honey unto me?
He began to make preparations for for food." Between himself and death,
his pilgrimmage to Zion. To a friend. who the poet complained, there was "but the
sought to hold him back, he addressed a thickness of a plank"; He was:
Sick and afraid because of the heathen
letter, the purport of which is: "You
And because of the marauders and the
wish to frighten me with dangers? Is
winds.
there any spot on earth, in the East or
Yet he was "the prisoner of hope"
the West, where we are safe? You try to
lure me with the philosophical discus- and in the midst of a wild storm he
sions we enjoy here in Spain, and which could write:
. . the sea rageth and my soul
I surely shall miss in a barren land. Are
exulteth-
we to seek God's soil only on account of
For to the sanctuary of her God she
good brethern and amiable friends? How
draweth nigh.
can we so neglect the source of our
At last he reached Egypt where the
eternal life? Do not be misled by Greek
philosophy, which, indeed, shows fine Jewish community received him eagerly,
flowers but bears no fruit. Wherefore urging him to interrupt his dangerous
should I seek tortuous paths, when the journey and stay with them. After the
monotony of sea and sky and little boat,
mother-roads wait for me?"
The poet of Zion thus went out on the physical beauty of the earth struck
his travels: he strove toward a ruined, the poet all the more forcibly. He wrote
tormented land, governed by enemies, of the beauty of nature in Egypt:
Hath time doffed his terror-clothes
its sands and swamps supporting sparse
And donned his clothes of loveliness?
savage tribes. He knew it all and ac-
And Earth putteth on silks and em-
cepted it all. It was hard for him to
broideries,
leave his home in Cordova, to where he
And paveth itself with fine goldset-
tings;
And the grainfields by the riverbank
are checkerwork .
And one girl, and many a girl, by the
river's edge—
Light as deer they are, yet h ea v y-
laden,
Heavy their hands with bracelets, and
Narrow their steps with ankle-rings;
And the heart growth foolish, forget-
eth its age . .
But to Yehudah Halevi Egypt could
not be merely loving country-side. He
reminded himself that he must not
tread heavily upon its streets. Had not
the Divine Presence passed through
them once long ago? "To Egypt first
came the word of God," and in it God's
messengers—Moses and Aaron-were born.
It was a country to be honored, but
he argued with those who wished to keep
him there:
... I know that here the Divine Pres-
ence turned aside,
Like a wayfarer to the shade of the
oak and the terebinth,
But in Salem and Zion it is like one
homeborn,
For there is the Torah, there t h e
greatness.
And it was to Salem and Zion that
he kept on going, "to the -heap of the
ruined shrine" at Shiloh, to "the paths
of the ark of the Covenant" whose dust
"was more sweet than honey."
Yehudah Halevi left Egypt. Whether
he reached the Holy Land is unknown.
Legend recounts that Yehudah Halevi
did reach Jerusalem, but at the very
moment that he was kneeling at the
gates of Jerusalem and singing odes to
Zion, weeping and kissing the dust of
the Holy City, an Arab horseman stab-
bed him in the back with his spear.
Yet the poetry of Yehudah Halevi
lives through the ages: for his :poetry
is not the poetry of one man, but the
poetry of a people, Israel, who have fin-
ally in the twentieth century reestab-
lished themselves in the Promised Land.
•-••••• ■■•■ ••••• ■
Pioneer Women Train Students
Cohen and Lappin Named Co-chairmen. of Balfour Ball
The meeting at Kasle's home
Two of Detroit's leading Zion- Americans to the importance of
will offer an opportunity for
Israel's
position
in
the
world
ists will head the effort in be-
workers and contributors to dis-
half of the 1953 Balfour Ball, to scene, to bring our youth closer cuss
plans for this 21st annual
be held Saturday, Nov. 14, at into the picture and to enlist
Ball.
new
support
for
Israel.
Moses
Lehr-
Hotel Statler, Rabbi
man, president of the Zionist
Organization of Detroit, has an-
nounced. The ZOD is the spon-
soring organization for the ball.
Harry Cohen, member of the
board of the Zionist Organiza-
tion, has accepted the chair-
manship of the affair, while A.
C. Lappin will, serve as co-chair-
man.
Cohen is a past president of
the United Hebrew Schools and
Our sincere good wishes to the entire Jew-
of Congregation Shaarey Zedek.
He has consistently been among
the "blue ribbon" workers in
ish community of Detroit, to Israel and to
pre-campaign for the Allied Jew-
ish Campaign. A resident of De-
troit for more than 60 years, he
Jewish communities everywhere, for a happy
is president of the David Furni-
ture Company. He has two chil-
dren, Isabell and Julian.
Lappin is immediate past
5714_ May the new year be marked with
president of the Zionist Organi-
zation. His communal posts in-
clude membership on the board
progress in the strivings of our land as lead-
of the Jewish Welfare Federa-
tion, former presidency of the
Men's Club of Temple Beth El
er of the-democratic nations for peace and
and of Pisgah Lodge, Bnai Brith.
He has lent his speaking talents
to the Allied Jewish Campaign—
as chairman of the speakers'
justice for all mankind.
bureau in 1946—the War Chest
and Red Cross. An attorney, he
has made his home in Detroit for
46 years. He is married and has
two children, Richard and Barb-
ara.
Features of Ball
This year's Balfour Ball will
again feature a "refreshments
lounge," in addition to dancing
and music by one of Detroit's
leading orchestras.
Proceeds from the Balfour
KEYSTONE OIL
Ball are used to support the pro-
gram of the Zionist Organiza-
tion, locally and nationally, and
REFINING CO.
to promote Jewish youth work.
Workers to Meet Tuesday
Friends of the 1953 Balfour
William Fisher
Ball will hold a special session
at the home of Abe Kasle, 19470
Lucerne Drive, 8:30 p.m., Tues-
day.
Leon Kay
"This year's Balfour Ball is ou•-
means to develop the Many
facets of our Zionist Organiza-
Nathan Epstein
tion program," Cohen said. "Pro-
ceeds from the Ball help us edu-
cate our fellow Jews and fellow
nznzn rI311:2 rl:tr5
These students peer through microscopes supplied by Pioneer
Women, women's labor Zionist organization of America, through
its fund raising activities in the United States and Canada. The
agricultural school Hadera is maintained by Pioneer Women
through its sister organization, the Working Women's Council
in Israel. There 200 students receive a general education as well
as agricultural training. Most of the graduates become farmers.
—ilappy "flew Year
May the New Year 5714 be
Sanctified by Good Deeds
and by Justice for all
Humanity.
May we be
blessed in the months to
come with loyalty to Jewry's
and elm erica' s cultural
needs and with faith in
Israel's future.
Mr. and Mrs. Abe Kasle
L.
and Family
A HAPPY NEW YEAR
DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
-
Friday, September 11, .1953
7
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