Podcasts religion Israel in Translation Mysticism, messianism, and divine music

Mysticism, messianism, and divine music

Published: April 1, 2015, 3:38 p.m.

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I call you now to answer me\\xa0
despite my prayer\\u2019s silence in the mornings\\xa0
despite the moth\\u2019s presence in my closet\\xa0
despite my fullness with rusted talk

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These are lines from\\xa0Haviva Pedaya\'s poem "When I Come From the Place of Crying,"\\xa0translated by Harvey Bock, which host Marcela Sulak reads.

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Pedaya was born into an Iraqi family of rabbis and Kabbalists. She is a professor of Jewish history at Ben Gurion University specializing in mysticism, and her\\xa0poetry echoes her scholarly research on time and place; center and periphery; and messianism.

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Pedaya is also involved in musical and artistic projects; she founded the Yonah Ensemble which has succeeded in revitalizing liturgical and mystical music of the Near East. Many of her poems have been put to music, and we hear some in the podcast.

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The text can be found at\\xa0Poetry International Rotterdam

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Music:

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Shai Tsabari - The King \\xa0(words by Haviva Pedaya)

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Yuval Gershtein and Maureen Nehedar - There\'s A Very Small Place

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