Desert Island Texts: The poetry of Hannah Sennesh
If you were cast away on an island with just one Jewish text for company, which would you choose?
This week Rabbi Dr Andrew Goldstein, president of the Liberal Jewish Synagogue, selects the poetry of Hannah Sennesh
“There are stars up above, so far away we only see their light long, long after the star itself is gone. And so it is with people we loved – their memories keep shining ever brightly though their time with us is done. But the stars that light up the darkest night, these are the lights that guide us. As we live our days, these are the ways we remember.”
Get The Jewish News Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign Up
We recently marked the 70th anniversary of the execution, by the Nazis, of Hannah Senesh, who wrote these words.
They appear in the newly published A Jewish Book of Comfort (Canterbury Press, 2014), which I have co-edited with Rabbi Charles Middleburgh.
An anthology of hundreds of Jewish thoughts from all ages, we hope it will give comfort at various difficult times in life.
Sometimes it can be heroic lives themselves that bring comfort and encouragement, the realisation that life, even in the darkest of times, can still be worthwhile and have purpose and hope. Hannah Senesh’s short life itself was an inspiration and her poetry inspires and comforts us long after she was done to death for trying to save her people in the Shoah.
An enthusiastic Zionist, Hannah had escaped to the relative safety of British Palestine and could have gone on to enjoy the land that had been in her dreams – the land and the sea – new inspiration for her poetry but, instead, she volunteered to do what she could to save her people about to be deported to their deaths in Auschwitz.
Shortly before being parachuted back to her native Hungary, and walking along the beach at Caesarea, she wrote another of her famous poems: “Eli, Eli… my God, my God, may these never end; the sand and the sea, the rush of the waters, the crash of the heavens, the prayer of the human heart.” Hannah’s life was cruelly ended, but her inspiration lives on.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
-
By Laurent Vaughan - Senior Associate (Bishop & Sewell Solicitors)
-
By Laurent Vaughan - Senior Associate (Bishop & Sewell Solicitors)
-
By Laurent Vaughan - Senior Associate (Bishop & Sewell Solicitors)
-
By Laurent Vaughan - Senior Associate (Bishop & Sewell Solicitors)