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Jewish
20th Century

About Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

Timeline (1907 - 1972)

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel poetry, Jewish, Jewish poetry,  poetry, [TRADITION SUB2] poetry,  poetry

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English version by
Rabbi Zalman M. Schacter-Shalomi

Original Language
English, Yiddish

God Pursues Me Everywhere

Themes
  Birth, Rebirth
  Silence
  Sun
  Womb
 

 

Recommended Books

3 Poems by Abraham Joshua Heschel: Khoyves (Debts) - MP3 Download, by Abraham Joshua Heschel / Translated by Yehudi Wyner
ABC News Classics: Rabbi Heschel (DVD), by Abraham Joshua Heschel
Abraham Joshua Heschel: Man of Spirit, Man of Action, by Or N. Rose / Susannah Heschel
Between God and Man, by Abraham Joshua Heschel
God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism, by Abraham Joshua Heschel

More >>

God pursues me everywhere,
Enmeshes me in glances,
And blinds my sightless back like flaming sun.

God, like a forest dense, pursues me.
My lips are ever tender, mute, so amazed,
So like a child lost in an ancient sacred grove.

God pursues me like a silent shudder.
I wish for tranquility and rest -- He urges; come!
And see -- how visions walk like the homeless on the streets.

My thoughts walk about like a vagrant mystery --
Walks through the world's long corridor.
At times I see God's featureless face hovering over me.

God pursues me in the streetcars and cafes
Every shining apple is my crystal sphere to see
How mysteries are born and vision came to be.


- from "Human, God's Ineffable Name," by Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, freely rendered by Rabbi Zalman M. Schacter-Shalomi. Available from the Reb Zalman Legacy Project

 

 

 

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Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2008 by Ivan M. Granger.
All other material is copyrighted by the respective authors, translators and/or publishers.