5: Non-Zionist and Zionist responses to “In the City of Slaughter.”

5: Non-Zionist and Zionist responses to “In the City of Slaughter.”

Bialik’s poem had a huge impact on Jews across the political spectrum. For young Zionist Jews of Bialik’s generation and of succeeding generations, “In the City of Slaughter” was an enlivening call to arms, a motivation to organize self-defense and to prepare for future attacks. But many non- or indeed anti-Zionist figures, especially Jewish socialists, have also cherished the poem; revolutionaries recognized the power of the text despite Bialik’s open skepticism and hostility toward socialism. In the first excerpt, Moisei Olgin (1878–1939), a Bundist (Jewish diasporist-socialist) activist, and later Communist leader, attests to the significance the poem had for him and defends its legitimacy for socialist readers. In the second excerpt, Natan Goren, a Hebrew literary critic and Zionist, reflects on the poem’s relationship to the creation of the State of Israel.

Suggested Activity: Read these responses to “In the City of Slaughter” by two literary critics at different ends of the political spectrum. What does each writer value in Bialik’s poem? How do their responses differ? 

Have students think of other texts that are appreciated across a wide spectrum of political beliefs. How might someone’s political affiliation change their understanding of a piece of art? What qualities do these texts possess that allow them to transcend the authors' particular political affiliations?

Sources: Moisei Olgin, “Yetsirat ha-mehapekhah,” repr. in Shirat H. N. Bialik: Antologiah, mivhar divre-pesher, ha’arakhot, masot, divre-liṿvui ve-zikaron al kol shire Bialik, ed. Haim Orlan, (Tel Aviv: Devir, 1971), 220 (trans. Kenneth Moss).

Natan Goren, “Le-yovelah shel poemah,” repr. in Shirat H. N. Bialik: Antologiah, mivhar divre-pesher, ha’arakhot, masot, divre-liṿvui ve-zikaron al kol shire Bialik, ed. Haim Orlan, (Tel Aviv: Devir, 1971), 226 (trans. Kenneth Moss).