Jewish Poetry Project of Ben Yehuda Press

10/12/2023

Chanukah 4
From The Missing Jew:Poems 1976-2022. bit.ly/TheMissingJew2022

10/12/2023

To submerge beneath the water, the mystics add, is to return to the Divine womb, the way the soul returns to the Heavens each night as the body dozes.

08/12/2023

8th night of Chanukah: reflections in a thawing garden.

Chanukah 8
And Elohim said, "light" and there was light. (Genesis 1:3)
‎וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֱלֹקִ֖ים יְהִ֣י א֑וֹר וַֽיְהִי־אֽוֹר׃

In Hebrew the word "davar" means both thing and word. And at the very beginning of creation the Hebrew word “OR”( "Light") , "OR" is seen as a creating word. In the book of “Beginning” (Genesis) the idea of language as inherently alive and creative inspires me.

Light was the first creative act, and yet the sun and moon are not created until day four. The sages asked, What happened to this first light? The answer they gave--it was hidden away, a hidden light (or haganuz) reserved for the righteous in the world to come.

But some teach that when young children are first learning Torah, a thread of this original light illuminates the letters.

And others say, & I agree— the light is already hidden within the letters, waiting to be released. When we learn to read soulfully and with depth, we can see the light coming out of the letters.

This is how we must learn to read poetry, and how poetry teaches us how to read— by finding hidden light in words and letters.

This poem came responding to a teaching of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov.
It speaks to a way of reading in which a Hebrew letter contains within it other Hebrew letters.
In my Hebrew name רפאל I see in the letter פ a dangling י

To Add Light to a Name

—after Rebbe Nachman Sichos HaRan #44 “On the topic of a person’s name”

Am I a misspelling? Perhaps there are too many versions for any
to be convincing. In one version you will bless intricacies. I see in the fey
of rafael a dangling yod. And a white bet traced in black which meaning
calls house. I will bet on a hidden bet the b-b-b-b of first creation. Letters
inside letters spell hidden lives. The rebbe said I will take your name and
permute—do not say it is a trick. Do not say this! It is a great work to add light to a name.

Or in a dream to seal a body in light to brave a darkened door. To
wrap wings of presence around trembling shoulders.

Every word has secret doors. I will find levels in my name or stumble through a trap. There is a
trope in your name rebbe. You drew me into yours and we fell together in
the Nameless Who says I kill and I make live.

All around me I saw live the light in every name.

From

A career retrospective of the poetry of Rodger Kamenetz, author of "The Jew in the Lotus."

14/11/2023

Our friends at Yetzirah: a hearth for Jewish poetry have released the video of the recent reading featuring Maya Bernstein, Yehoshua Josh November, and Jacqueline Osherow.

November 12 (Shadow/Light): Maya Bernstein, Yehoshua November, & Jacqueline Osherow This reading was hosted by Jessica Jacobs and Jehanne Dubrow. Learn more about these readers here. And sign up to attend future readings and see our full Reading Series here.

14/11/2023

Another poem in the manuscript I'm working on. This poem first appeared in Pensive: A Global Journal of Spirituality & the Arts.

30/10/2023

Three great Jewish poets in one online reading.

Maya Bernstein‘s writing has appeared in the On the Seawall, the Cider Press Review, the Eunoia Review, Lilith Magazine, Poetica Magazine, Tablet Magazine, and elsewhere. She is on faculty at Georgetown University’s Institute for Transformational Leadership and Yeshivat Maharat, and is pursuing ...

22/10/2023

Ode to the Dove: Building with the Sunlit Mind by Zackary Sholem Berger Ode to the Dove: A Yiddish Poem by Abraham Sutzkever By Avrom SutzkeverTranslated by Zackary Sholem BergerIllustrated by Lior…

19/10/2023

shir einsofi- yehuda amichai

posting a random poem i love a day until who knows when because i need something on my feed that does not cause me pain and sadness and grief.

this one is one my friend david showed me a couple of years ago

18/10/2023

Shawn C. Harris, author of Jewish horror tale in verse "The Red Door" to lead workshop on exploring Judaism through role playing games. Jewish creativity at its finest!

We are thrilled to finally share this offering with you all - after the resounding success of her roleplay session at ShavuotLIVE, Shawn Harris will be guiding a six-week role play experience, that we are thinking of as an “un-course” in the UnYeshiva. Play and role play specifically are powerful tools for examining complex ideas, challenging emotions and big fantasies so it offers a totally distinctive way to explore big Jewish questions.

Register here - https://www.judaismunbound.com/fall-2023-minicourses/p/dungeons-dragons-dreidels

For this course, we'll be creating our own story with a colorful cast of characters and a location that sparks the imagination. Who they are, where they are, and what they do is up to you.

This course is open to all experience levels, from complete beginners who've never roleplayed before to veterans of the hobby. What matters most is your imagination, enthusiasm, and appreciation for the power of playing pretend.

We hope to see you there ✨

16/10/2023

Remembering Louise Glück.

Many of her poems drew on the Western canon, including the Hebrew Bible.

13/10/2023

tourists — yehuda amichai

posting a random poem i love a day until who knows when because i need something on my feed that does not cause me pain and sadness and grief.

all poetry comes from rachel korazim’s thoughtful and impressive collections.

11/10/2023

10/10/2023

תודה ליערה שחורי ששיתפה את השיר הזה, ולגילה וכמן על ציון מועד חיבורו.

02/10/2023

The Creative Writing Program of the Department of English and Comparative Literature (ECL) at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill invites applications for a full-time, tenure-line Assistant Professor of Poetry, to begin in Fall 2024. Candidates should be prepared to teach a 2/2 load of unde...

29/09/2023

Get ready for the First Annual Israeli Poetry Week!

26/09/2023

Over and over the virulent water / beat my flame down to ash