The Emergence of Modern Hebrew Creativity in Babylon, 1735- 1950

Questions

227 Questions Introduction A. A Brief History about the Jews in Babylon 1. Please explain the following terms: Amoraites, Tania, Midrash, Babylonian Talmud, Saboraites, Yeshiva, Gaonites. 2. Illustrate times in which Jews lived in peace with Muslim Arabs. In your opinion , can this happen now? 3. When was Baghdad built? Who built it? 4. In the twentieth century, the Jewish community in Iraq had many synagogues, charitable organizations, social clubs, and rabbinical courts. Compare this with Jewish community centers in the United States today. 5. What is “Farhud”? Why did the Los Angeles Holocaust Memorial Museum recognize “the Farhud” as a Holocaust pogrom? 6. What were the ways in which the Jews of Iraq hoped to prevent future pogroms ? 7. Expound on the case of Shafik Adas. What are your thoughts about the case? 8. How does the knowledge of a people’s history help us understand their culture and literature? B. The Essence of the New Hebrew Creativity in Babylon 1. Describe some of the difficulties of Jews who decided to write Hebrew literature in Iraq in modern times. What motivated them? 2. How can we distinguish between secular and liturgical Hebrew poetry? 228 QUESTIONS 3. How did the Jews of Iraq interact with Jews from far away communities? How did modern technology impact the interactions between communities that are far away from each other? C. Jewish Education in Babylon Compare the Jewish educational system in Iraq with the Jewish educational system in the United States today. D. Hebrew Teaching and Hebrew Knowledge in Babylon Compare the status of the Hebrew language in Babylon with its status in the United States today. E. The Hebrew Press in Babylon Compare the Hebrew press of nineteenth century Iraq with the Hebrew press in the United States today. Why did a smaller Iraqi Jewish community print more Hebrew books then than a larger United States Jewish community today? F.The Hebrew Creativity of The Near Eastern Jews and the History of Modern Hebrew Literature What argument is made about the need to rewrite the history of modern Hebrew literature? Part 1: Poetry Chapter 1: Pathfinders and Explorers in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Hebrew Poetry in Babylon What translation of poetry appeals more to you—a literal translation or one that keeps the general content of the original but focuses on its metrical structure and rhymes? Rabbi Ezra Habavli: The Debate of Man and his Earth 1. What would the reader miss in Habavli’s poetry if he is not aware of its biblical allusions? 2. Are Habavli’s ideas individualistic, national, or universal? “A Man Must Get Tipsy”: The Call of Rabbi Moshe Hutsin When do you find it acceptable that a spiritual man becomes whimsical, funny, and mischievous? Didactic Poetry: Rabbi Salih Matsliyah Questions 229 Can a poet write an instructive poem with a moral without compromising the aesthetic aspects? Illustrate your answer with the poems of Rabbi Salih Matsliyah . Rabbi Nissim Matsliyah: Playful Poetry What are the effects of the use of homonyms in a poem? Illustrate by using an Americam poem known to you. Rabbi Sason Ben-Mordekhai: “I am Sason a Small Minded and a Short Tongued Man.” 1. How does the fact that the poetic speaker includes his biographic name in his poem affect you? 2. How does the fact that the poetic speaker addresses you in the second person affect you? 3. “The love of pleasure is sweet / But its evil is awfully grave.” Illustrate the validity of this statement nowadays. Rabbi Mordekhai Ben Sason: His Pals Disappointed Him The statement “and my soul says, this is for the good” is ambiguous. Please suggest how to interpret it. What are your thoughts about poetic ambiguity? Rabbi Sason Yisrael Gives Advice: “For Who will You Collect Silver and Gold?” The poem, except for its first few words, is a monologue of its author. Write a response to the addressee in the first part of the poem. Chapter 2: Four Poets of Babylonian Origin Shaul Yosef: An Enlightened Poet 1. Illustrate the use of poetic overstatement in Shaul Yosef’s poem. Further expound on how these overstatements affect you. 2. Do you hold a bias toward the critic or toward the author of the poem because of his criticism of another poet? Rabbi Saliman Menahem Mani: From the Bonds of the Conventional to the Personal Articulation Compare the poem “If Tarshish” by Saliman Mani with...