Abstract
In his article "Let the Other be Me - The Theo-Political Predicament and the Arab in Shin Shalom's Early Writings" Haim O. Rechnitzer explores the theo-political predicament as reflected in the writings of poet, playwright and novelist Shin Shalom (Parczew Poland 1904–Haifa, Israel 1980). Particular attention is given to writings composed during the intensification of violence between Arabs and Jews in Mandatory Palestine from the early 1920s through the Arab revolt of 1936-39. This period is also a volatile period in Shalom's life; Aliya (Zionist immigration to the Land of Israel) with a Hasidic Zionist group, leaving the Hasidic settlement Kfar Hasidim and way of life for the mostly Arab populated Galilee, traveling to Germany for a couple of years and back to the Yeshuv (Pre-State Zionist Society in the Land of Israel), this time to Tel-Aviv. Shalom's writings during this period tell the story of a theological and existential crisis caused by the collision between mystical Hasidic aspirations for union of the self with God and his creation and the presence of the Arab as the other and the enemy. Reading Shalom's works with an eye towards the theological-political predicament offers a perspective that is yet to be fully articulated in scholarship dedicated to Shalom's works and more broadly to the theological undercurrents of what is considered 'secular Zionist culture,' and the unique role of the poet as a prophet of the Jewish national revival.
Recommended Citation
Rechnitzer, Haim Otto
"Let the Other be Me - The Theo-Political Predicament and the Arab in Shin Shalom’s Early Writings."
CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture
20.1
(2018):
<https://doi.org/10.7771/1481-4374.3162>
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