There is a strange flavor, seasoned with pomegranates and grapes
found in the desert when, without shadows, it flames;
while rain rolls through the red dust of dirt trails,
and it is possible to taste it in Jerusalem’s hills.
These are the opening lines of an excerpt from Avraham Sutzkever’s Lider fun Togbukh (Poems From a Diary, 1974-1981), read by host Marcela Sulak.
Sutzkever was born in 1913 in today’s Belarus. He was sent to the Vilna Ghetto during WWII, from which he escaped and was flown to Russia. After the war he moved to Tel Aviv just before the founding of Israel.
He died on January 20, 2010 in Tel Aviv at the age of 96 – you can hear an unusual account of his funeral in our previous podcast. The New York Times called him “The Greatest Poet of the Holocaust.”
In the background you can hear his poem ‘Unter Dayne Vayse Shtern’ – about, written, and composed in the Vilna Ghetto – set to music by Gideon Brettler.
Avraham Sutzkever translations by Maia Evrona
Further reading:
A. Sutzkever. Selected Poetry and Prose. Trans. Barbara Harshav & Benjamin Harshav. University of California Press, 1991.
Music:
Unter Dayne Vayse Shtern – Lyrics by Avraham Sutzkever. Voice: Yeela Avital; flute: Daphna Peled; guitar and arrangement: Gideon Brettler.
Vi Azoi – Lyrics by Avraham Sutzkever. Daniel Kahn and the Painted Bird.
Producer: Laragh Widdess
Technical producers: Adam Sher
