JLL 528 Kadur Min Hatsaar
This course will introduce students to a broad array of pre-State and Israeli poets and song writers for adults and children. These will include such classic poets as Hayyim Nahman Bialik, Saul Tchernichowski, Esther Raab, Rachel Bluwstein, Anda Pinkerfeld Amir, Avraham Shlonsky, Lea Goldberg, Natan Alterman, Amir Gilboa, Haim Gouri, Yehuda Amichai, Natan Zach, Avraham Halfi, Naomi Shemer, Yehonatan Geffen and Salman Masalhah, and other contemporary voices. The goal is to explore the special role of poetry and song in Israeli culture, the way it has helped galvanize and challenge the nation, provided a means to process and work through trauma and envision better times. Special attention will be given to the role of song and singalongs in Israeli culture, and how nostalgic evocations of these collective song and poetry experiences have been repurposed in recent Liberal Israeli prayer services, as well as in the ever-developing cultural response to the attacks of October 7, 2023. This is an in-person class.