Poems For Thanksgiving

Haim Nahman vs. the Haredim

"My maternal grandfather, Rabbi Israel Halpern, found his friend reading 'Sefer Ha'aggadah' ['The Book of Legends '], by Haim Nahman Bialik and Yehoshua Hana Ravnitzky, which he had borrowed from the library. My grandfather got angry and burned the book. I asked him afterward how he had burned a book with God's name written in it? And my grandfather replied: 'A Torah scroll written by a heretic must be burned along with the references [to God's name ] in it.'" Thus wrote Prof. Yehuda Friedlander, former rector of Bar-Ilan University, to me recently regarding the ultra-Orthodox community's self-imposed ban on Bialik's writings.

Another instance of burning the national poet's works - in Tiberias in 1909 - was related many years later by Hai Shefer (grandfather of the current director of the Prime Minister's Office, Gil Shefer ) who, as a student at a Haredi yeshiva, was "caught" secretly reading Bialik's books. This is what happened the day after the young boy tearfully confessed his "sin" to his father: "We had just returned from prayers, I took out the books from their hiding place, with their wrapping paper and string, and placed them in the middle of the yard ... Father ordered Mother to bring the kerosene and the matches. With his own hand he poured the kerosene on the books and lit the match, as though bringing a thanksgiving offering, and the sea breeze [referring to Lake Kinneret] scattered the ashes" ("Auto-da-fe of Bialik's writings in Tiberias," Davar, July 8, 1960 ).

This testimony largely reflects the attitude of the extremist Haredim to Bialik and his literary enterprises, including "Sefer Ha'aggadah," whose writing was concluded by Bialik and Ravnitzky 100 years ago. It was the flagship of Bialik's effort to collect treasures of Hebrew culture, which was also supposed to include the publication of an annotated edition of Maimonides' "Mishneh Torah." In spite of this, Haredi circles saw Bialik as someone who deserted the study hall, desecrated the heavenly name and was a heretic who had penned such phrases as "If there is a God in you" and "May his throne be abolished forever" - and thus any contact with his writings and the corpus of his work was forbidden.

In their eyes, even Bialik's death did not atone for his "sins." Indeed, even when the Jewish community in Palestine mourned the poet's untimely death in 1934, the extreme ultra-Orthodox Neturei Karta cursed his memory, accused him of publishing heretical works and dubbed him "an instigator and an agitator, a sinner who caused others to sin" ("The reaction of Neturei Karta," Yedioth Ahronoth, June 20, 1956 ). Later, the organ of the Jerusalem branch of Agudath Israel also portrayed Bialik as someone who was "far from holiness and divinity in his lifetime," and attacked Chief Rabbi Abraham Isaac Hacohen Kook for participating in the memorial service for the poet, in spite of the fact that the latter had "abandoned the Torah and turned to secular education" (David Tamar, "The poet, the rabbi and Agudath Israel," Maariv, July 25, 1986 ).

Partnersjo-Advocacy.com | Blog | Nature Poems-4 Famous Nature ...

Close your eyes and listen to these 4 famous nature poems. There is no need to download the audio files. Just click and listen to The Way Through the Woods by Rudyard Kipling, The Daffodils Poem by William Wordsworth, No by Thomas Hood, and Ode to a Nightingale by John Keats.

4 Famous Nature Poems Audios: #1, THE WAY THROUGH THE WOODS by Rudyard Kipling

Listen to this famous Kipling poem about the beauty of nature and its everlasting wonder. The Way Through the Woods by Rudyard Kipling is like a fairy’s song, a nature poem to make you smile and feel happily lost in the woods. No need to download this famous nature poem audio. Just click and listen to one of Rudyard Kipling’s best loved poems THE WAY THROUGH THE WOODS.

4 Famous Nature Poems Audios: #2, THE DAFFODILS POEM by William Wordsworth

The Daffodils poem is one of the most loved poems of all times. Originally named I WONDERED LONELY AS A CLOUD, this is William Wordsworth’s best known poem. Listen and smile with the Daffodils poem, a delightful, rhyming inspirational poem. There is no need to download this famous nature poem audio. Just click and close your eyes–and let the magic begin with William Wordsworth’s THE DAFFODILS.

4 Famous Nature Poems Audios: #3 NO by Thomas Hood

Here’s an audio winter poem to remind us of all that winter isn’t. No by Thomas Hood is delightfully witty. There is no need to download this famous nature poem audio. Just click and listen to this winter poem and remember what Thanksgiving and Christmas are for–to fill the season with cheerfulness, laughter and joy. So without further ado, here’s Thomas Hoods NO.

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