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“God Who Brought us Close and Then Repented”: Hester Panim and Revelation in Avraham Ben-Yitzhak’s Writings
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Yarden Ben-Zur
Published/Copyright:
January 6, 2025
Abstract
In the following article, I propose a comprehensive exploration of Abraham Ben-Yitzhak’s poetry, centering on the dialectics of revelation and concealment, often referred to as “hester panim” in Hebrew. This concept, deeply rooted in traditional Jewish theology, signifies God’s concealment and exile from the human realm, where He hides His face and turns His back on His people. By examining Ben-Yitzhak’s poetry through the lens of “hester panim” we gain valuable insights into his work. This concept is not a mere theoretical framework; it is intricately woven into his early Hebrew poems and undergoes a significant evolution in his post-World War One German writings, dated around 1925.
Received: 2023-06-05
Accepted: 2024-09-02
Published Online: 2025-01-06
Published in Print: 2024-12-17
© 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- Introduction
- Hebrew Literature in Europe
- “God Who Brought us Close and Then Repented”: Hester Panim and Revelation in Avraham Ben-Yitzhak’s Writings
- Hebrew Dreams in the Berlin of Yesterday: German-Jewish Symbiosis Fantasy on the City’s Streets in Lifney Hamakom by Haim Be’er and Avedot by Lea Goldberg
- Understanding the Meaning of “Aspeset”: Hermeneutical Approaches, Reading Practices and the Departure from Germany in Two Lea Goldberg Novels
- New Beginnings?
- Hortulus 37, 1959: Translation as Collaboration in an Anthology of New Poetry from Israel
- Ethical Implications of German-Hebrew Homophony: Analyzing Dan Pagis’ “Sealed Railcar” Cycle
- Franz Rosenzweig’s and Paul Celan’s Early German Translations of Yehudah Halevi’s Hebrew Poems
- The Following Generations of Readers and Writers
- Die Muttersprache, die schweigt, und die Stiefmuttersprache, die erzählt. Zu Aharon Appelfelds Sprachpoetik zwischen Deutsch und Hebräisch
- On Translated Literature’s Intended Reader(s): The Case of Yoram Kaniuk’s The Last Berliner
- The Grammar of Displacement: Entwined Stories in Ruth Almog and Jenny Erpenbeck
- Exploring Israel/Palestine Through the Eyes of Writers: German-Language Authors and Undiscriminating Anthropological Glasses
Keywords for this article
Avraham Ben-Yitzhak;
Gershom Scholem;
hester panim;
revelation;
concealment
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- Introduction
- Hebrew Literature in Europe
- “God Who Brought us Close and Then Repented”: Hester Panim and Revelation in Avraham Ben-Yitzhak’s Writings
- Hebrew Dreams in the Berlin of Yesterday: German-Jewish Symbiosis Fantasy on the City’s Streets in Lifney Hamakom by Haim Be’er and Avedot by Lea Goldberg
- Understanding the Meaning of “Aspeset”: Hermeneutical Approaches, Reading Practices and the Departure from Germany in Two Lea Goldberg Novels
- New Beginnings?
- Hortulus 37, 1959: Translation as Collaboration in an Anthology of New Poetry from Israel
- Ethical Implications of German-Hebrew Homophony: Analyzing Dan Pagis’ “Sealed Railcar” Cycle
- Franz Rosenzweig’s and Paul Celan’s Early German Translations of Yehudah Halevi’s Hebrew Poems
- The Following Generations of Readers and Writers
- Die Muttersprache, die schweigt, und die Stiefmuttersprache, die erzählt. Zu Aharon Appelfelds Sprachpoetik zwischen Deutsch und Hebräisch
- On Translated Literature’s Intended Reader(s): The Case of Yoram Kaniuk’s The Last Berliner
- The Grammar of Displacement: Entwined Stories in Ruth Almog and Jenny Erpenbeck
- Exploring Israel/Palestine Through the Eyes of Writers: German-Language Authors and Undiscriminating Anthropological Glasses
