Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #470275 in Books
• Published on: 2007-02
• Original language: Yiddish
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Review
"Abraham Joshua Heschel's first calling as a writer was to become in his early twenties a major poet in Yiddish. In this earliest work, Heschel stated all the themes of his later development as a religious thinker and passionate Jew. This work is now translated magnificently, in a way that is sensitive to Heschel's Yiddish, by Morton Leifinan. Taken together, in the original Yiddish and in contemporary English, this book is a classic."

From the Inside Flap
"…these 66 poems present the formative writing of one of modern Judaism’s greatest spiritual authors. Heschel is a beloved spiritualist, and the whole Jewish community would do well to add this, his first published work, to the collection of his writings" – jewsweek.com, December 2004

About the Author
Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) was a pre-eminent scholar, acclaimed spiritual writer, and prophetic activist. He was a professor of ethics and mysticism at Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City.

Customer Reviews

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 fully developed in Heschel's mature works of thought.
I was greatly moved by them. I found them daring and original in idea. They show Heschel's God- centered way of feeling, his deep sense of God in Man and in the world. They too address God with a familiarity and closeness the burning passion of a true Hasid.
The poems are divided into six sections: Man is Holy,Bearing Witness, To a Lady in a Dream,Between Me and the World, Natural Pantomines, Repairing the World.
These poems are inspirational in the deepest sense. The poetic passion is real in each and every one of them.
They are poems to restore and enrich the soul.
The books epigraph is Heschel's " I prayed for wonders instead of happiness, and You gave them to me."
These poems are rich in wonder and will be I believe especially enjoyed by those for whom connection with , relation to, questioning of God being with God is central to their lives.

66 Mystical Gems
These poems are in class with the great mystic poets, Donne, Blake and Dickenson. Fine translation and beautiful book.

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.