Figuring Jerusalem: Politics and Poetics in the Sacred Center PDF
Preview Figuring Jerusalem: Politics and Poetics in the Sacred Center
Figuring Jerusalem Figuring Jerusalem Politics and Poetics in the Sacred Center sidra dekoven ezrahi The University of Chicago Press Chicago and London The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637 The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London © 2022 by The University of Chicago All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations in critical articles and reviews. For more information, contact the University of Chicago Press, 1427 East 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637. Published 2022 Printed in the United States of America 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 1 2 3 4 5 isbn-1 3: 978- 0- 226- 78732-9 (cloth) isbn-1 3: 978- 0- 226- 78746-6 (paper) isbn-1 3: 978- 0- 226- 78763- 3 (e- book) doi: https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226787633.001.0001 The epigraph on page vii is from Leah Goldberg, Selected Poetry and Drama, trans. Rachel Tzvia Back (New Milford, CT: Toby Press, 2005), 168– 69. Reproduced with the permission of the translator. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Ezrahi, Sidra DeKoven, author. Title: Figuring Jerusalem : politics and poetics in the sacred center / Sidra DeKoven Ezrahi. Description: Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2022. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: lccn 2021034620 | isbn 9780226787329 (cloth) | isbn 9780226787466 (paperback) | isbn 9780226787633 (ebook) Subjects: lcsh: Hebrew literature—History and criticism. | Jerusalem—In literature. Classification: lcc pj5012.j4 e97 2022 | ddc 892.409—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021034620 ♾ This paper meets the requirements of ansi/niso z39.48- 1992 (Permanence of Paper). To Bernie, who turns every journey into a homecoming Break your bread in two, Jerusalem, earthly and heavenly, thorn jewels on your slopes and your sun among the thistles. A hundred deaths but not your mercy! Break your bread in two: one part for the birds of the sky the other for heavy feet to trample at the crossroads. [ . . . ] Above my eyes toward evening in a city weary of wanderings in the wayfarers’ quarter small and trembling wings trace circles of despair. A Hebron- glass- sky. First lamp that is lit. A swallow with no nest. Flight that has stopped. What now? leah goldberg, “Jerusalem, Earthly and Heavenly” Contents List of Figures xi Note on Hebrew Transliteration xiii Prologue “Why Jerusalem?” The Politics of Poetry 1 Introduction “This House, which is called by My Name” 12 part i Literary Archaeologies 1 “Yes, you did laugh!”: The Secret of the Akeda 29 2 “You are as majestic as Jerusalem”: The Song and the City 57 3 “Apples of gold in ornaments of silver”: Maimonides’s Guide to the Poetic Imagination 89 part ii Agnon’s Dilemma 4 “What may this be likened to?”: Agnon and the Poetics of Space 115 5 “Every day I have regretted not having stood in the breach”: Agnon in Jerusalem 138 part iii Amichai in the Breach 6 “He comes out of a swimming pool or the sea . . . and he laughs and blesses”: Yehuda Amichai, Poet of the Sacred Quotidian 177 7 “Visit my tears and the east wind, which is the true Western Wall”: Amichai in Jerusalem 192 Coda 214 Acknowledgments: Ancient Debts and Ongoing Gratitude 225 Notes 233 Bibliography 295 Index of Names 315 Index of Biblical Citations 323
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