God’s Gifts
1924
My most pious songs have I written
On rising from my sinful bed.
God has given me a wealth of sins,
And God alone has saved me from my sins.
Engage with this Source
Restricted
Related Guide
Jewish Queer Art and Writing in the Twentieth Century
20th Century
Jewish LGBT artists and writers struggled to reconcile belonging to communities in which they experienced both acceptance and exclusion.
You may also like
All Is God’s
Man has separated lust and sorrow.
But God holds them together like day and night.
I know lust. I know intense suffering.
I praise God’s one name.
Unity
When God’s holy law is read out
Do you think I forget one bold lust?
And enjoying each lust with fearing,
Do you think I know not God’s law?
Midos
A Jewish Wedding Deep in fields the klezmers can be heard Driving horses foaming at the mouth, Relatives, both poor and rich, arrive To Reb Sane’s daughter’s wedding feast. [ . . . ] But from a room…
Bread
My steps are set down stiffly
on tired, empty paths.
This morning a little town of Jews
called me “Anti-Semite!”
All of them in wrinkles and in rags
out there pointing at me:
“Him! That guy! We…
Screams in Ukraine
How can it be told in simple, quiet words?
How can you gloss over the sharp outcry
So that people will listen to it and be silent,
With mute eyes, even without a sigh?
Without a sigh, since every…
Aftergrowth
Behold I have not plowed nor have I planted,
I have not prayed for the rain.
And suddenly, see! My fields have grown
Sun-blessed grain instead of thistle.
Is it the aftergrowth of ancient produce,…