Ineffable Name of God: Man: Poems in Yiddish and English [Hardcover]

Abraham Joshua Heschel (Author), Morton M. Leifman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 16, 2004 | ISBN-10: 0826416322 | ISBN-13: 978-0826416322 | Edition: Bilingual

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.>

Editorial Reviews

Review

“To discover that the religious philosopher Abraham Joshua Heschel was a poet in his youth is both startling and indelibly self-evident—startling because the poems have so far eluded the anthologies; and at the same time familiarly manifest, in that Heschel’s metaphysical writings themselves carry the impress of poetry. Like Herbert, like Donne, like Blake, he is God-haunted; his lyrics are steeped in the mystic’s longing to tear away the curtain that conceals the divine radiance and (sometimes) God's tears.” —Cynthia Ozick

“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 Leifman. Taken together, in the original Yiddish and in contemporary English, this book is a classic.” —Arthur Hertzberg

“…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. With this first ever English translation, the Yiddish is still preserved on opposite pages. Taken together, these are surprisingly moving pieces of literature considering the age of their author- as young as 20 when they were written. 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

“I don’t know of anyone who has written about God and about life with the kind of intimacy and boldness and love that Abraham Joshua Heschel has in these poems. Morton Leifman has translated them faithfully and lovingly, and in many passages, ingeniously. All those who yearn to be in the company of a God-haunted, God-intoxicated, God-loving poet should treasure this book which has been rescued from oblivion in Yiddish and given new life in this wondrous English edition.” –South Florida Jewish News

“The Ineffable Name of God: Man.…infused with the chasidism of Heschel’s youth, with a spiritual yearning for intimacy with God, with awe and wonder before the grandeur of nature, and most acutely, with the theme that will become central in all of Heschel’s mature theological work, what he called ‘the divine pathos,’ God’s eternally renewed search for intimacy with humanity.… In his tragically brief lifetime, Heschel represented many role models. He was the hero of modern Jewish theologians, the father of the new Jewish spirituality and the eloquent spokesperson for all who were devoted to repairing our seriously flawed world. These two ‘new’ books speak to his enduring contributions in all of these areas.” –The Jewish Week, 12/24/04

“Some of these poems are symbolically poignant… Read more of Heschel, the lyrical voice glorifying human holiness and its language!” –Jewish Book World, Spring 2005 (Jewish Book World Quarterly Review )

“…one of the pre-eminent Jewish philosophers and theologians of our day…This is the first English translation of the collection of poetry that Heschel, then 26, published in pre-war Berlin…This book belongs in the libraries of colleges and religious institutions, and in public libraries as well.” –Catholic Library World, June 2005 (Catholic Library World )

“…highly skillful and artistically adept English translations…allows us to explore, with great pleasure and profit, the ways that Heschel came to understand his relationships to his God and to his fellow humans.” –Confrontation Magazine, Spring/Summer 2005 (Confrontation Magazine )

“Abraham Joshua Heschel has been called “the most important Jewish thinker of the modern period.” –What is Enlightenment?, September-November 2005 (What is Enlightenment? )

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

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Continuum; Bilingual edition (November 16, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826416322
• ISBN-13: 978-0826416322
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,683,663 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #11 in Books > Education & Reference > Foreign Language Nonfiction > More Languages > Yiddish
  • #36 in Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > Yiddish

More About the Author

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-72), one of the foremost Jewish savants of our time, was internationally known as scholar, author, activist, and theologian.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Divine Poetry, April 5, 2008

By 

Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" (Jerusalem,Israel) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Ineffable Name of God: Man: Poems in Yiddish and English (Paperback)

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.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 66 Mystical Gems, December 5, 2004

By 

Matt Levine (Atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ineffable Name of God: Man: Poems in Yiddish and English (Hardcover)

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

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A heart for God, November 14, 2008

By 

Bookworm "jcc" (Colorado Springs, CO USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ineffable Name of God: Man: Poems in Yiddish and English (Paperback)

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.