When S. Y. Agnon received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1966, he became the first Israeli to receive a Nobel, and to this day, he is the only Israeli to have been awarded a Nobel Prize in Literature. The opening paragraph of the speech that he gave upon receiving the prize has become iconic, and in ways that he likely did not intend, resonates in our own troubled times no less than it did in his:
As a result of the historic catastrophe in which Titus of Rome destroyed Jerusalem and Israel was exiled from its land, I was born in one of the cities of the Exile. But always I regarded myself as one who was born in Jerusalem. In a dream, in a vision of the night, I saw myself standing with my brother-Levites in the Holy Temple, singing with them the songs of David, King of Israel, melodies such as no ear has heard since the day our city was destroyed and its people went into exile.
I suspect that the angels in charge of the Shrine of Music, fearful lest I sing in wakefulness what I had sung in dream, made me forget by day what I had sung at night; for if my brethren, the sons of my people, were to hear, they would be unable to bear their grief over the happiness they have lost. To console me for having prevented me from singing with my mouth, they enable me to compose songs in writing.
It is quite possible that Agnon did not intend this, but here is what he says to us: “I am descended from a world that had been destroyed, and was raised and educated in one that was rooted in memory and yearning.” He composed “songs in writing” to survive. He composed “songs in writing” to imagine, to create – even if only in his mind on his pages – new worlds.
We, in our own day, are going to have to do something similar, though what that will be still remains to be seen. With the Jewish world as we knew it fading rapidly before our eyes, as we think about renewal, Agnon’s speech almost invariably comes to mind.
The house where Agnon lived and worked is but a couple of small neighborhoods away from ours, and I pass by it regularly. Of late, I noticed that there’s construction going on, and I turned to my friend Rabbi Jeffrey Saks, who is a widely recognized expert on Agnon and deeply involved in the work of Agnon’s home. Rabbi Saks suggested that we discuss Agnon, his legacy, his home and the plans for his home — and that we do it in the very study where Agnon wrote.
So, this is a very different setting for our conversations than we’ve used in the past, but I will confess that having our cameras and microphones on Agnon’s actual desk, surrounded by the very books that he collected and studies, was powerful in a way that words cannot describe.
Today, we re-encounter one of the great Jewish writers of all time, in the very place where his pen shaped Jewish literature forever.
Below, Agnon’s home, which we learn more about in today’s conversation, and Israel’s 50 Shekel bill, on this Agnon’s image appears.
For those who would like to explore Agnon a bit further, here are some places to start:
For the S.Y Agnon house website in English, click here.
For translations of Agnon to English available online at the S.Y Agnon house website click here.
For Hillel Halkin’s translation of Agnon’s “A Simple Story” published by Toby Press, on Amazon, click here.
Jeffrey Saks is a Modern Orthodox rabbi, educator, writer, and editor whose work focuses on Jewish thought, education, and Hebrew literature. He is the founding director of ATID (The Academy for Torah Initiatives and Directions in Jewish Education) and co-founder of WebYeshiva, the world’s first fully interactive online yeshiva. Saks also serves as Editor-in-Chief of Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought and is Director of Research at the Agnon House in Jerusalem. An internationally recognized expert on the writings of Nobel laureate Shmuel Yosef Agnon, he has edited and translated numerous works on Jewish thought and literature while teaching at several educational institutions in Israel.
The link at the top of this posting will take free subscribers to an excerpted portion of today’s conversation.
For paid subscribers, the link at the top will take you to the full conversation; below, paid subscribers will also find a transcript for those who prefer to read, as always.
