Article
Welcome to Israeli poetry - February 2006
June 07, 2006
Someck experienced immigration as a child; as a mature poet he brews a compound of east and west – the basic structure of his soul. His writing also exhibits a social conscience and, as he worked for many years with street gangs, features the struggles of poor young people. This connection grants Someck’s poetry a freshness and youthfulness akin to the world of rock, pop and jazz. He often collaborates with musicians, his uncomplicated language fares well in translation and has easily won acceptance outside of Israel. This edition features five of his poems in English, the work of five different translators, a presentation of Someck’s work by Gabrielle David, and an essay by this editor on his poem ‘Arabic Work’.
Haviva Pedaya comes from a religiously observant family known for its (religious) scholars, and her interest in Jewish mysticism has not only formed a substantial part of her poetic world but is also the backbone of her academic work as a university professor. Despite this work, or perhaps, paradoxically, because of the material she is exposed to in her research, her poetry is linguistically enriched, and displays a wealth of personal, spiritual and religious experiences. Nonetheless, Pedaya’s inner world is not completely exposed; there is much that is concealed, and many of her statements remain “a sealed ark”, the title of her first book. Pedaya’s language is filled with words and phrases that are built upon early Hebrew registers, a rich source of connotations which cannot help but lose something in translation. Five poems translated by Harvey Bock accompany a review of her first book, and an essay by this editor on the poem ‘one who speaks to the absent’.
Haviva Pedaya and Ronny Someck have traveled long but different paths, in terms of the communities they have been exposed to and the audiences for which their work is intended. They are presented here together, adding to the richness of the contents collected in the site’s initial three years. All prose translations on the Israeli domain are by PIW editor Lisa Katz, unless otherwise indicated.
{id="3083" title="Rami Saari"}, National Editor
{id="3083" title="Lisa Katz"}, English Language Editor
The Israeli national site is produced by {id="3098" title="Mishkenot Sha’ananim"} International Cultural Centre in Jerusalem.
The fourth year of the Israeli section of PIW begins with the presentation of two contemporary poets who, despite their shared ethnicity and culture, in many ways can be considered opposites. A common cultural origin in no way guarantees a common identity or even similarities. Two Israeli poets of Iraqi descent take their readers in two completely different directions, and they create vastly different yet equally appealing spaces in terms of both material reality and each writer’s inner world.
Ronny Someck and Haviva Pedaya are of Iraqi descent; Someck was born in Baghdad, and Pedaya in Israel to a family which had emigrated from Iraq. Many Iraqi Jews are highly-educated people, steeped in culture, of a high social and economic status, respected in their environment and proud of their traditions. Immigration to Israel and integration into the Jewish national home has often been accompanied by great difficulties. Nevertheless, Iraqi Jews have succeeded in becoming an integral part of Israeli society, and writers and poets of Iraqi heritage number among Israel’s most prominent artists. Someck experienced immigration as a child; as a mature poet he brews a compound of east and west – the basic structure of his soul. His writing also exhibits a social conscience and, as he worked for many years with street gangs, features the struggles of poor young people. This connection grants Someck’s poetry a freshness and youthfulness akin to the world of rock, pop and jazz. He often collaborates with musicians, his uncomplicated language fares well in translation and has easily won acceptance outside of Israel. This edition features five of his poems in English, the work of five different translators, a presentation of Someck’s work by Gabrielle David, and an essay by this editor on his poem ‘Arabic Work’.
Haviva Pedaya comes from a religiously observant family known for its (religious) scholars, and her interest in Jewish mysticism has not only formed a substantial part of her poetic world but is also the backbone of her academic work as a university professor. Despite this work, or perhaps, paradoxically, because of the material she is exposed to in her research, her poetry is linguistically enriched, and displays a wealth of personal, spiritual and religious experiences. Nonetheless, Pedaya’s inner world is not completely exposed; there is much that is concealed, and many of her statements remain “a sealed ark”, the title of her first book. Pedaya’s language is filled with words and phrases that are built upon early Hebrew registers, a rich source of connotations which cannot help but lose something in translation. Five poems translated by Harvey Bock accompany a review of her first book, and an essay by this editor on the poem ‘one who speaks to the absent’.
Haviva Pedaya and Ronny Someck have traveled long but different paths, in terms of the communities they have been exposed to and the audiences for which their work is intended. They are presented here together, adding to the richness of the contents collected in the site’s initial three years. All prose translations on the Israeli domain are by PIW editor Lisa Katz, unless otherwise indicated.
{id="3083" title="Rami Saari"}, National Editor
{id="3083" title="Lisa Katz"}, English Language Editor
The Israeli national site is produced by {id="3098" title="Mishkenot Sha’ananim"} International Cultural Centre in Jerusalem.
© Rami Saari
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