The Poetry of Yitzak Laor and the Courage to Refuse

David Zonsheine: CounterPunch: "an article by Prof. Meira Weiss came into my hands: 'The Chosen Body: The Politics of the Body in Jewish Society in Israel.' At the time I was a commander of a reserve unit in the Israel Defense Forces and the previous day I had returned home after 28 days of service in the southern Hebron hills.

After a month of checkpoints, Shin Bet security service arrests and ambushes, the option of diving into a discussion of the significance of the human body in the history of Zionism, a topic that has always fascinated me, looked to be very good for the soul. The mention of Max Nordau and his muscular Judaism as a reaction to diaspora Judaism was especially intriguing. Right at the beginning of the article my eyes landed on lines of a poem by Yitzhak Laor in a Hebrew rich with alliteration and internal rhyme:

the poem "Rue Rue Jerusalem" in "As Nothing," Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1999

"I Itzik" from "Night In a Foreign Hotel," Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1992

"This Fool Yitzhak" from "Only the Body Remembers," Adam Modan Publishers, 1985

Ever since I refused to serve in the territories and the Ometz Lesarev (Courage to Refuse) movement was established, I have returned again and again to Yitzhak Laor's texts and now also to "Leviathan City," his new book. In Laor's most recent books, there is a strong subterranean movement between the personal and the political and back again. In this respect, "Leviathan City" is the climax of a process that began back in "Night in a Foreign Hotel" (1992) and continued through "And Loveth Many Days" (1996) and "As Nothing" (1999). "

David Zonsheine is leader of Courage to Refuse.
Unless otherwise noted, poetry translations are by Vivian Eden with Yitzhak Laor.
This article originally appeared in Ha'aretz.