SOURCE: Bloch, Chana. “Wrestling with the Angel of History: The Poetry of Yehuda Amichai.” Judaism 45, No. 179 (Summer, 1996): 298-300.

In the following essay, Bloch discusses the ways in which Amichai's poems address the meaning of the Jewish experience in history.

A friend of mine tells a story about some Israeli students who were called up in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. As soon as they were notified, they went back to their rooms at the University, and each packed his gear, a rifle, and a book of Yehuda Amichai's poems. It is a little hard to envision this scene: these days we don't think of soldiers as resorting to poetry under fire, and Amichai's poetry is not standard government issue. It isn't patriotic in the ordinary sense of the word, it doesn't cry death to the enemy, and it offers no simple consolation for killing and dying.

Still, I know...