Yiddish Poetry as Holocaust Theology
The philosopher Theodor Adorno famously, or infamously, said that “poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric.” But for a generation of Jewish writers, poetry after and about Auschwitz was an essential way of grappling with, and grieving for, the Holocaust. Together we’ll look at Yiddish poets who turned to verse to craft theological responses to the Shoah. We’ll consider the ways that poetry can be a medium for theology, in addition to the specifics of these poets’ work, asking questions like: how does the Shoah change their relationships to God and to Torah, and how can poetry express the inexpressible?