Of Yom Kippur and Baseball
Amichai Chasson’s poem ‘America’ captures three moments in front of a TV screen, spanning 44 years of U.S.-Israeli relations on both a national and personal level
Vivian Eden
Bab El Wad / Haim Gouri: A Newly Published Translation From the Late, Great Israeli Poet
Haim Gouri, one of the most renowned intellectuals in Israel's history, died aged 94. Read his poem 'Bab el Wad,' published here in English for the first time
Poem of the Week Lovely and a Bit Naughty: Hebrew Rain and Chained Cranes in Spain
As Poem of the Week bids farewell, Solomon Ibn Gabirol paints an alluring winter landscape.
Poem of the Week Life and Death in a Plate of Fruit
T. Carmi contemplates what comes next.
Poem of the Week Will Mobility Trump Immobility?
Ricky Rapoport Friesem found a way to say good-bye.
Poem of the Week Something Brokenin the United States Needs Fixing
Ahead of November 8, a poem by Alicia Ostriker prophetically captures the feeling in this national election.
Opinion Rogel Alpher, American Jews Don’t Occupy Israel - or You
Advising AIPAC to 'get a life and stay out of mine,' Alpher accused U.S. Jews of an 'illegitimate takeover.' But non-Orthodox Jews in America often confront the thesis that the Israeli government can do no wrong.
Poem of the Week How Can Stolen Children Be Explained?
William Butler Yeats suggests fairies, for 'the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand'.
Poem of the Week The Father, the Son and the Culture War
'All, all, all' - Almog Behar on teaching a toddler inclusiveness.
Poem of the Week Abducted Jewish Musicians Refuse to Play for the Enemy
'They demanded the song; but, oh never / That triumph the stranger shall know': Playboy and revolutionary Lord Byron on the Babylonian exile.
When Is an Orange More Than an Orange?
'Here’s the crumb corner, between the TV and the bookshelves': Yael Statman is moving back to Israel and realizes she can't pack the past.
Hallelujah Anyway: Bloodied and Bruised the Caged Bird Sings
In which the author of the column confesses her ignorance of Paul Laurence Dunbar and a formative national text.
The Mahmoud Darwish Poem That Enraged Lieberman and Regev
An Army Radio discussion of an early work by Mahmoud Darwish has caused an uproar. Here is the poem: ID Card.
If the Statue of Liberty Could Speak to Trump
Wretched refuse and huddled masses: What Emma Lazarus wrote in 1883 shows how far from its great roots Donald Trump would take America.
Ursa Major Morphs Into a Warplane and a Father in Syria Lies to His Son
Roy Zemach imagines little Yusuf’s father telling him that there's nothing to fear from that sudden 'black bird' in the lens.
Poem of the Week Look Carefully: These Lives Are Not Invisible
'Bosses and the stinging ants': Tal Hasan leads us subtly into the history of a family.
Poem of the Week Why India Has No Pulse
Vikram Seth condemns the reinstatement of a colonial anti-sodomy law that India had revoked in 2009.
Poem of the Week Mocking Signs: James Joyce Translates Pain Into Epiphany
The Irish poet suffered excruciating physical backache while inventing Leopold Bloom’s raunchy musings in “Ulysses,” celebrated this week.
Poem of the Week Dualities, a Love Story
Miriam Neiger-Fleishmann looks at a memory of love in changing light.
Hokum Wafts Jerusalem Away From the Reality
In Shai Dotan’s vision, the city disengages from the earth.
Poem of the Week Freedom From the Tyranny of the Right
Rachel Hadas finds new spaces by trying to switch from her right hand to her left, for art's sake.
Poem of the Week Half-Jewish Nobel Laureate in Agony
Paul Heyse finds succor in the embrace of the cool forest, and coy language.
Poem of the Week It’s a Bird, It’s a Clown, It’s Not Agnes
Flying over Europe, the sea and deserts, the first and second generations of the Holocaust experience dreamlike transformations in Agi Mishol’s poem.
Poem of the Week A Monstrous Ant and a Poem That Was Never Really Written
Surrealist Robert Desnos worked for the French anti-Nazi Résistance by forging papers – and writing poems to amuse frightened children
Poem of the Week Shakespeare, Whom the World Is Celebrating, Mopes in a Seasonal Love Poem
Scholars agree that this rueful sonnet is addressed to a young man, possibly an earl.
Poem of the Week The Passover Story as a Nursery Rhyme, With a Jewish National Message
An early 20th century poem by Kadish Yehuda Silman, a Hebrew-language pioneer, tells the story of Moses in the ark.
Poem of the Week What Will We Look Like to Future Beings?
Millions of years hence, we'll look to them like dinosaurs look to us, Irit Katz imagines.
Poem of the Week Every Procrastinator Needs a Friend, Even God
Zohar Atkins: There he sat in a tiny room, unable and unwilling to move, until Gabriel came and said, 'I know you are afraid'
Poem of the Week Our Eyes Are Open but We Cannot See the Unbelievable
'There’s something else going on here' - Poet, playwright and librettist Israel Eliraz died last week. His translator pays tribute.
Poem of the Week Is the Purim Boozing Model Good for the Jews?
What if even one of the sons of Haman was not evil? Karen Alkalay-Gut asks a dissident question.