by Agnon, S. Y.
Shira can, nonetheless, be read on countless levels. Generations have read the Song of Songs as an allegory, redeeming the erotic through the metaphysical. This remains a possible approach to Shira and even addresses the modern reader’s need for clear and consistent character profiles. Our reading of Shira is certainly enhanced by those critics who explore and alert us to the art, literature, philosophy, view of history that informed Agnon’s cultural and historical landscape. Still, it seems appropriate to invoke Shira’s own view of criticism: “I don’t think I would enjoy being a prophet and saying this or that is what the poet had in mind”; and “Why read books about books…if I can read the poems themselves, why bother with the critics’ opinions.” Though Herbst argues: “True, but they might reveal meanings you wouldn’t be aware of on your own,” she insists on her position; “Since my teeth grew in I’ve been in the habit of chewing my own food…From the day I learned to read, I read without inviting critics and essayists to chew the words of the storytellers or poets beforehand and thrust the results into my mouth.”
As a translator, I felt myself being submerged by the text, yielding to the particular words, the exquisite blend of austerity and lyricism, resisting the temptation to distance myself from them in order to analyze, interpret, and rephrase “correctly.” Going beyond the discursive level,
I found myself inside the text, where ordinary dilemmas seemed to resolve themselves. What on the surface had seemed like ambivalence became an ability to accommodate at least two sides of a question, what had seemed like random digression was justified in terms of the language of the unconscious. Agnon’s voice was able to modulate shifts from thought and feeling to action, from ruminative material to narrative material. The firm structure of each phrase, sentence, paragraph, made questions about the overall structure of this unfinished novel seem somewhat irrelevant, though its ambiguous conclusion leaves so many unanswered questions. It was my experience, as I worked closely with the text that apparent trouble spots yielded the greatest meaning, as is often the case with aspects of a dream that resist interpretation.
Despite his reputation as a formidable and esoteric writer, Agnon’s meanings are simple once one concedes the limitations of the rational mode. His emphasis on experience rather than outcome make the novel deeply involving, though so little actually happens in the course of it. Herbst’s somewhat quirky character is at peace with the contending aspects of reality, accommodates a broad range of feelings, transcends a dramatic view of personality as a network of conflicting forces coming to terms with each other to achieve consistency. Having discarded the chapter in which Herbst finds Shira. Agnon chose to have him continue the quest and, despite her physical absence in Books III and IV, Shira remains a powerfully persistent presence: “He was even more keenly aware of what did not occur between them… as if what did not occur was the essence. And, that being what he lacked, he would be keenly aware of this lack forever.”
Herbst remains bound to Shira, like the aguna – a wife who, in Jewish law, remains bound to her absent mate as long as his whereabouts are unknown. This concept, from which Agnon derived his name in 1908 (having been born Shmuel Yosef Czaczkes), haunts his writing from early on. Though, practically speaking, the plight of the aguna has been highly problematic, even tragic, it is true that those forces and presences that vanish mysteriously are the ones from which it is most difficult to find release. Imagination, experience, emotion – all conspire to create bonds that are not easily dissolved, bonds that Agnon examines repeatedly.
In an early story, “Agunot,” the thwarted bond of passion wreaks havoc in many lives; in the novel A Guest For The Night, the narrator returns to his Galician town, which remains bonded to the past – at once a constricting force and a vital framework within which character and feeling unfold; in Shira, Herbst remains bonded to the mysterious women who challenges so many aspects of his identity. Whether or not it is rational for such bonds to exist, Agnon acknowledges their power, illuminating them with particular brilliance in Shira, wherein his vision derives less from the urge to judge and proclaim values than from a commitment to what is essentially true and human.
Annotated Glossary
Ahad Ha’am – (“One of the People”) pen-name of Asher Hirsh Ginsberg (1856–1927), Hebrew essayist and author, champion of the revival of Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel as a spiritual center vs. Herzl’s political Zionism.
Amnon and Tamar – Half-sibling children of King David, but used idiomatically throughout Shira as a term for “(star-crossed) lovers” in light of the rape of Tamar by Amnon (see 2 Samuel 13).
Apollo bound up in tefillin straps – Reference to “Before a Statue of Apollo”, a well-known poem by pioneer Hebrew poet Saul Tchernichovsky (1875–1943).
Arlozoroff, Haim (1899–1933) – Zionist leader during the British Mandate and head of the Political Department of the Jewish Agency; assassinated in Tel Aviv in 1933.
Ashkenazic – European (and especially eastern European) Jewry, as distinct from s.v. Sephardic Jewry.
Baka – Neighborhood in southern Jerusalem with a strong Arab presence. Home to the Herbsts.
Bezalel – Jerusalem Academy of Art, founded by Boris Shatz in 1906.
Bialik’s “The Talmud Student” – Well-known poem by Hayyim Nahman Bialik (1873–1934), greatest Hebrew poet of the Hebrew revival. The 1898 poem (in Hebrew, Hamatmid) reflects Bialik’s great ambivalence to his traditional upbringing and study in Orthodox yeshiva at Volozhin.
Brit – Ritual circumcision for Jewish boys at eight days old.
Brit Shalom (“Covenant of Peace”) – Movement for a peaceful coexistence between Arabs and Jews, founded in Palestine in 1925. It favored cultural Zionism of Ahad HaAm over political attempts to establish a Jewish State, aiming instead for a bi-national state.
Buber, Martin (1878–1965) – Austrian-born Israeli Jewish philosopher best known for his dialogical, existentialist philosophy, and his important essay “I-and-Thou” and his translation of the Hebrew Bible into German.
Bukharian Quarter – Neighborhood in north-central Jerusalem named after Jewish immigrants from Bukhara (today Uzbekistan) who first settled there in the 1870s and ‘80s.
Cholent – A hearty stew prepared in advance of the Sabbath and left simmering until served on Saturday afternoons.
Darf man die Welt belügen / Ich sage nicht nein / Doch willst du sie betrügen / So mach es nicht fein – Are you allowed to lie to the world? / I don’t say no. / But if you want to cheat on her, / don’t do it elegantly (fine/nicely). – In Book iv chapter 3 Herbst recalls these lines of German poetry, which Agnon records in German without translation. In fact Herbst has mis-remembered an epigram of Goethe, which in the original goes: Darf man das Volk betrügen? / Ich sage: Nein! / Doch willst du sie belügen / So mach es nur nicht fein. The essential difference is Herbst’s “belügen” (to lie) with Goethe’s original “betrügen” (to cheat or betray), a telling slip of his memory given the context in which the lines are brought.
Earlock – Payos (Yiddish); traditional side-curl favored by ultra- Orthodox Jews.
Edom and Ishmael – Biblical characters, but used idiomatically as synonyms for Christianity (Edom) and Islam (Ishmael).
Emek valley – Area of the fertile Jezreel valley in the lower Galilee region. The novel’s fictional Kvutza Ahinoam is located here.
Ezra school – Network of German-speaking schools founded in Palestine in 1901 by the Hilfsverin Relief Organization for German Jewry.
Galicia – Central European region (straddling today’s Poland and Ukraine), home to a significant Jewish Diaspora (and birthplace of S.Y. Agnon).
Gemara – Component of the Talmud comprising rabbinic analysis and commentary on the Mishnah. Codified in Babylonia around the year 500 C.E.
Hauptmann, Gerhart (1862–1946) – German novelist, playwright and Nobel laureate.
German Hasidim (Hasidei Ashkenaz) – 12th and 13th century Jewish mystical and ascetic grou
p (not to be confused with Hasidic movement of the 18th century).
Gethsemane – Garden area at the foot of Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives (New Testament sight of Jesus and disciples’ prayers on the eve of the crucifixion).
Gordon, Y. L. (1831–92) – Major Hebrew poet of the Jewish Enlightenment.
Grush – Slang term for a small coin.
Haganah – Lit. “The defense”, a Jewish paramilitary organization during British Mandate, later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces.
Halutzim – pioneers.
Hamekasher – Jerusalem bus company (operated as a cooperative from 1931–67).
Hamsin – Arabic term for an intense heatwave due to hot, dry desert wind.
Hasid – Adherent of one of the dynasties of hasidic Jewry, the spiritual movement founded in Eastern Europe in the mid 18th century.
Hasmonean Period – Era of the Hasmonean dysnasty in Judea and the Hannukah story (140 b.c.e.-37 C.E).
Heder, Talmud Torah, yeshiva – Jewish religious schools.
Hehalutz movement – Umbrella organization of the pioneering Zionist youth movements which aimed to train its members to settle in the Land of Israel.
Herut (lit. Freedom) – Right-wing political group.
Heshvan – Hebrew month corresponding to late October-November.
Histadrut – Powerful workers union founded in 1920; a mainstay of labor Zionism.
Irgun – Right-wing Zionist paramilitary group, a breakoff of the Haganah.
Jewish Agency – The central non-governmental organization coordinating Jewish life, immigration and settlement in pre-State Palestine.
Jewish National Fund – Founded by the Fifth Zionist Congress (1901) with goal of acquiring land in Palestine for Jewish development and settlement.
Kaddish – Mourner’s prayer, recited by close relatives during the year of mourning and on the yearly anniversary of death (yahretzeit).
Katznelson, Berl (1887–1944) – Major intellectual figure in the founding of Labor Zionism, instrumental to the establishment of the modern State of Israel, journalist and editor.
Kiryat Sefer and Tarbitz – Academic journals of Jewish studies.
Kittel – A traditional white, pocketless robe worn on certain ritual occasions, such as Yom Kippur prayers. Here Shira uses it to describe her white nurse’s smock.
Kohelet Rabba – Work of rabbinic Midrash on the book of Ecclesiastes.
Kvutza / kibbutz – Collective communities, usually based on agricultural settlements; the kibbutz movement was a flagship element of Socialist Zionism. (Originally a kvutza was smaller than a kibbutz.)
L’hayim – To life! A traditional toast.
Lag Ba’omer – The 33rd day of the Omer period between Passover and Shavuot; a minor holiday marked by celebrations and bonfires.
Lira (pl. lirot) – Base monetary unit in British Mandate Palestine, also known as Palestine Pound.
Mapu’s The Love of Ziyon – Most famous novel of Lithuanian-born Avraham Mapu (1808–1867). The 1853 novel is considered the first modern Hebrew novel.
Mea Shearim – Ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Jerusalem.
Mekor Hayim – Neighborhood in southwest Jerusalem.
Mendele Mocher Sforim – Mendel the Book-seller, pen-name of Shalom Yaakov Abramovich (1835–1917), influential Yiddish and Hebrew author.
Midrash – Body of rabbinic exegesis on the Hebrew Bible.
Mohel – Circumciser.
Mohilever, Samuel (1824–98) – Pioneering rabbi and religious Zionist.
Moshavim – Agricultural settlements.
Motza or Kiryat Anavim – Settlements outside and to the west of Jerusalem.
Mount Scopus – Mountain in northeast Jerusalem; original home to the Hebrew University and Hadassah Hospital.
Mufti – Islamic cleric.
Nahlat Shiva – Old neighborhood in the center of Jerusalem.
Nebi Mussa celebrations – Week-long religious festival that was celebrated annually by Muslims, beginning the week before Good Friday in the old Orthodox Greek calendar, centered around a pilgrimage from Jerusalem to what was thought to be the Tomb of the Prophet Moses (Nebi Mussa), near Jericho.
Palmach – Elite military unit of the Haganah.
Patristics – Study of the writings of the early Christian Church Fathers.
Petah Tikva – First agricultural settlement, near Tel Aviv, founded by Orthodox Jews in 1878.
Pharisees – In Shira used idiomatically for strict Orthodox Jews.
Ptygyl – An enigmatic word in Isaiah 3:24, denoting some type of expensive or festive robe.
Rabbi Meir the Miracle Worker – Second century rabbinic sage; his name was associated in latter days with a charity fund.
Rav – Hebrew for rabbi.
Rebbe – Yiddish term of endearment for rabbi, especially of the hasidic variety.
Rehavia – Affluent Jerusalem neighborhood, home to many Hebrew University professors.
Ruppin, Arthur (1876–1943) – Economist, sociologist, and important Zionist leader.
Schnorrer – (Yiddish) begger, pauper.
Second Aliya – Wave of Jewish immigration to the Land of Israel between 1904–14; brought 40,000 to Ottoman Palestine, mostly from Czarist Russia.
Sephardic – Term referring to the descendants of Jewish settlers, originally from the Near East, who lived in the Iberian Peninsula until the Spanish Inquisition (cf. Ashkenazic).
Shabbat of Lamentations (Shabbat Eikha) – The Sabbath prior to Tisha B’Av which marks the anniversary of the destruction of the Temples of Jerusalem. Shabbat of Compassion (Shabbat Harahamim) – The Sabbath prior to the Hebrew month of Elul.
Stern Group (in Heb. Lehi) – Militant Zionist group headed by Abraham “Yair” Stern, which aimed to forcibly evict the British from Mandatory Palestine.
Rappaport, Shlomo Yehuda (1790–1867) – Rabbi and scholar, and important figure in the Jewish Enlightenment movement in Galicia. In Shira (see appended “Another Version”) the point being made is a subtle play on the fact that Herbst’s son, if named Shlomo Yehuda in honor of Rappaport (who according to the fashion of was known by his acronym, Shir) would bear a masculinized hint to the name Shira.
Shohet – ritual slaughterer of animals for meat
Shtreimels – Festive round fur hat worn by hasidic men, especially on Sabbaths and holidays.
Sokolow, Nahum (1859–1936) – Zionist leader and pioneering Hebrew journalist.
Sukkot – Feast of Tabernacles, week-long holiday in the Fall.
Talpiot – Suburban Jerusalem neighborhood in the south of the city.
Tanaim and Amoraim – Rabbinic authors of the Mishnah and Gemara (respectively)
Technion – Israel Institute of Technology; founded in Haifa in 1912, oldest university in Israel.
Tefillin – Phylacteries; cube-shaped leather containers containing passages from the Bible, worn by men on the arm and head during morning prayers.
Templers – Members of the Temple Society (Tempelgesellschaft), a German Protestant sect expelled from Lutheran Church in 1858. Their aim was to realize the apocalyptic visions of the prophets of Israel in the Holy Land, where many members settled starting in the mid-19th century.
Terah – Father of the biblical Abraham.
Dr. Ticho, Abraham Albert (1883–1960) – Famous Jerusalem ophthalmologist; husband of artist Anna Ticho.
Watched-matzah – Matzah prepared for Passover which has been watched or guarded for extra protection against leavening. Soaked-matzah – Baked matzah that has come into contact with liquid in which case some stringent Jews are careful not to consume for fear that unbaked flour on the matzah might have become leavened after contact with liquid.
Weizmann, Chaim (1874–1952) – Scientist and important Zionist leader; first president of the State of Israel.
Yarkon – A river in central Israel that flows into the Mediterranean Sea at Tel Aviv.
Yekke – Nickname for a German Jew.
Zaddikim – Righteous.
Zohar – Foundational text of Jewish mysticism (Kabbala).
About the Author
S.Y. Agnon (1888–1970) was a Nobel Prize laureate writer and the central figure of modern Hebrew literature. His works deal with the conflict between the traditional Jewish life and language and the modern world, and constitute a distillation of millennia of Jewish writing – from the Bible through the Rabbinic codes to hassidic storytelling – recast into the mold of modern literature.
About the Translator
Zeva Shapiro has previously translated two novels by the highly acclaimed Israeli novelist Yoram Kaniuk: The Acrophile and The Story of Aunt Shlomzion the Great as well as To Remember, To Forget by Dan Ben-Amotz. Her translations of Hebrew poetry range from Rahel to Lea Goldberg; she is currently working on a Dvora Baron Reader.
The Toby Press publishes fine writing, available at leading bookstores everywhere. For more information, please visit www.tobypress.com
