12 Friday, February 24, 1984
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
T. Carmi Adds Enrichment to JPS Jewish Poetry Series
T. Carmi is one of the most
distinguished Hebrew
poets. He is presently visit-
ing professor of Hebrew lit-
erature at Hebrew Union
College-Jewish Institute of
Religion in Jerusalem. He
has gained an important
platform both as poet and
translator, as lecturer and
as a native American who
now has leadership in Is-
rael's cultural ranks.
Born in New York in
1925, his family was
Hebrew-speaking and he
pursued that status in his
poetry. For two years, 1947
and 1948, he served in Is-
rael's defense forces, his
family having settled in Is-
rael in 1947.
His career is so replete
with academic as well as
poetic accomplishments
that he is as famed now as
teacher as he is in his
poetry.
Among . his major
achievements was his
translations, noteworthy
in the "Penguin Book of
Hebrew Verse," a verita-
.ble encyclopedic
achievement.
Now T. Carmi has
reached new heights with a
volume that enriches the
Jewish Publication
Society's Jewish Poetry
Series, under the title "At
which inspired Carmi's
works. Explaining the poem
"Judgment" is this notewor-
thy source:
"The poem makes use
of elements in a Hebrew
legend in a tractate of the
Babylonian Talmud,
Megilla 10b. The passage
reads: 'While the Egyp-
tians were drowning in
the sea, the ministering
angels wanted to chant
hymns, but the Holy One,
blessed be He, said: How
can you sing while the
deeds of My hands are
drowning in the sea?"
T. CARMI
the Stone of Losses."
Grace Schulman, herself
a poet of distinction, whose
works were published by
Princeton University Press,
authored a most interesting
introduction to this volume,
defining Carmi and his
works. She is also the trans-
lator of this series of poems.
The 140-page book is di-
vided into eight sections,
the last entitled "Judg-
ment." The title poem in
this section is among the
many meriting quotation.
The new T. Carmi volume
has the special value con-
tained in a series of notes
explaining the Scriptural
and other scholarly sources
In her introduction,
Grace Schulman acclaims
the poet as "a poet whose
vision is both historical and
miraculous." There is this
tribute to the great poet:
"Seeing a world that is di-
vided by time and by the no-
tions of being and becoming,
Carmi focuses his gaze on
ordinary things in the
struggle to redeem a broken
universe: his agents of
transmutation are, var-
iously, 'white fire on a black
sky' or 'a fire that roars /
without wood or ash.'
"His hallucinatory clarity
calls back the surrealists, as
do many of his images of
flaming visionary change,
despite their origin in mid-
Judgment
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own nationals.
It was in the 1880s that
large scale immigration
of Jews began from east-
ern Europe to America.
Many of the new Ameri-
cans failed to integrate in
the New World and soon
moved on to Palestine.
The elderly especially felt
lost in the tumult and
bustle of New York. The
Orthodox feared for their
Yiddishkeit in an alien
atmosphere. And some
simply wanted to be
buried in the holy soil
when the time came. We
have seen no statistics
but it is obvious that the
number of such "Ameri-
cans" coming to
Jerusalem was quite
large.
They at once found it
necessary to organize their
own community, which they
called Kollel America, and
they had the good fortune of
being taken under his wing
by the distinguished corn-
munity leader and scholar,
Rabbi Yehoshua Leib Dis-
kin. He was recognized as
one of the leading per-
sonalities in the Ashkenazi
community. To this day an
orphanage which he
founded bears his name.
According to one story we
heard, the American consul
was delighted that he was at
last getting a "consti-
tuency" of his own. He was
also grateful tha the needy
arrivals from America were
being taken care of, and
thus not falling as a burden
on the consulate. In reac-
tion, he is said to have ar-
ranged for Rabbi Diskin to
receive U.S. citizenship, if
this were indeed then possi-
ble.
Once organized, Kollel
America began raising
funds in the U.S., and this
brought down upon it the
wrath of all the other com-
munities who had come to
look to the "rich Jews" of
America as a great source of
income for themselves.
Their fear was that Kollel
America would monopolize
America.
Kollel America is still
alive and functioning.
While to many it seems an
anachronism, it con-
tinues to receive contri-
butions from the U.S. and
continues to provide
charitable help to Ameri-
can immigrants of their
descendants, all of them
Orthodox. Those who
come from other coun-
tries have other sources
of help, we were told by
Ben-Zion Rabinowitz,
who today mans the
office.
The connection with the
Sitting on the bow, I see
the deeds of our hands drowning in the ocean.
The deeds and the hands,
words from mouth to mouth,
your forehead when the question ebbs,
eye to eye, awake and asleep,
and no border between
the skies of day and night—
all, all drowning in the ocean
that swells before our eyes.
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I sing
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rashic sources. However,
while the surrealists un-
ified a divided world, often
using fiery images of trans-
formation to illuminate
contradictions and make
American Flag in Mea Shearim Section
By CARL ALPERT
JERUSALEM — On a
side street in the Mea
Shearim quarter of
Jerusalem one can find a
building which bears the
following large sign: "Kollel
America — the Oldest
American Jewish Charity
in Israel." The sign is deco-
rated by two painted pen-
nants colorfully depicting
the American flag. There is
an unusual story behind
this sign.
European Jews immig-
rating to Jerusalem in the
previous century organized
communal landsmanshaf-
ten, each known as a kollel.,
They served as actual com-
munities, with their own in-
stitutions and social agen-
cies. Funds were provided
by the Jews back in the orig-
inal home town. Eighty
years ago there were about
30 of these kollelim in
Jerusalem. Among the
largest were Kollel Poland,
Kollel Galicia and Kollel
Hungary.
In carrying on its reli-
gious and charitable activi-
ties, each kollel also looked
for civic protection to the
consul of their respective
countries. Under the system
of capitulations then preva-
lent in the Turkish Empire,
each of the major powers
provided protection for their
IV./1???
If we had one
perhaps we would not be tried by water.
them whole, Carmi's oppo-
sites are never reconciled.
His poetry is a quest for a
day that is alive, that does
not- end in death."
The new T. Carmi poetic
collection was co-published
by the Jewish Publication
Society and the University
of California Press. It is
genuinely a classic.
—P.S.
Olympic Records Dwarfed
by Biblical Athletic Feats
present American consul is
slender indeed. On the
By HASKELL COHEN
(Copyright 1984, JTA, Inc.)
Fourth of July the kollel
sends him flowers, and he
This is the time of the
invites a representative to year when sports fans begin
come to the consulate's to evaluate the records,
Fourth of July party.
times and distances of
We looked over some of would be aspirants to the
the requests for help. There U.S. Summer Olympic
were appeals to help marry Team. Trials in dozens of
off a daughter, to support a sports events will comence
yeshiva student, to meet immediately upon the re-
bills after an illness, etc. turn of the U.S. Winter
The kollel also makes funds
Olympic Team from the
available through free games in Sarajevo, Yugos-
loans.
lavia.
Although located on MEA
It is safe to say that few
Shearim Street, they prefer Jewish athletes are going to
to use as their address the make the various competi-
adjoining Chesed L'Av- tions. Here and there, par-
raham Street because of the ticularly in fencing, gym-
negative connotations nastics. and weight lifting,
which many attach to Mea also possibly swimming,
Shearim. Yet among those one will be hearing of some
cited as endorsing the kollel Jewish athletes who will
is the Eda Haredit, represent the United
Jerusalem's extremist States. However, by and
ultra-orthodox community.
large, there won't be a
An innovations which flurry of Jews who will
old Rabbi Diskin never serve as standard bearers.
thought of is the kollel's There isn't a Mark Spitz on
"Hot Line to Jerusalem." the horizon.
In cases of serious illness,
The Bible and Talmud,
surgery, crisis or on any which admittedly cannot be
occasion when "a prayer verified as factual, offer
would help," application stories of some astonishing
can be made to the New athletic accomplishments
York office of the kollel. by ancient Jews.
A cable is sent to
For instance, there was
Jerusalem and the Moses, who held the Ten
appropriate prayer is at Commandments. Our
once said at the Western sages differ as the rela-
Wall. We saw a large tive weight of the two
sheaf of such cables.
stones on which the
Much of the collecting in world civilization is
the U.S. is done through the based. The Talmud
little boxes, pushkes, which Taanit (Jerusalem ver-
feature the name of Rabbi sion) states that the tab-
Meir Baal Haness.
lets Moses carried were
The American flag was two feet in length, two
raised in Mea Shearim in feet in width and twelve
1897. It still waves there in inches thick. How much
1984, on Chesed L'Avraham did the tablets weigh?
According to the Talmud,
Street.
Moses lifted a weight
equal to 40 seahs or
merely 1,920 pounds.
Compare that to the lifts
of 500 pounds our present
day weight lifters haul.
If speed is what you're
looking for, the book of
Jasha refers to the time
Esau refused to permit his
nephews to bury their
father, Jacob, claiming the
burial plot belonged to him.
Upon hearing Uncle Esau's
claim, Joseph and his breth-
ren told their speediest
brother, Naphtali, to run
back to to get the confirm-
ing document attesting to
the rightful ownership of
the burial plot. Naphtali
was so fast — he could out-
run deer — that he sped
upon the ears of corn in the
fields without breaking a
single one and brought back
the burial deed.
Talk about marksman-
ship recalls the tale in the
Talmud Hulin concerning
the accuracy in shooting
darts by Rabbi Jona ben-
Tachlifa. Rabbi Jona was so
accurate in his aiming
darts, the Gemara relates,
that he would perform
shekhita (legal slaughter)
of birds in flight, in full ac-
cordance with the law per-
taining to ritual -killing of
fowl.
The holy books also relate
that Jacob's sons, in aveng-
ing the rape of their sister
Dina, did battle and wiped
out all the male members of
the community involved.
They were forced to hurdle
over the wall surrounding
the city. Said wall was a
mere 75 feet high, certainly
an all-time high jump re-
cord.