Creator Bio
Esther Raab
1894–1981
Esther Raab was the first modern woman Hebrew poet born in the Land of Israel. Her religiously observant parents were among the founders of Petah Tikvah, where she was raised and educated. Although her father forbade her to attend the local secondary school because it was coeducational, she was widely read in Hebrew, French, and German literature. Her economically hard-pressed parents sent her in 1921 to live with relatives in Cairo, where she married. She and her husband returned and settled in Tel Aviv several years later. Her poetry is noted for its detailed evocation of the landscape of the Land of Israel.
Entries in the Posen Library by This Creator
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Before Your Shining, Full Eyes
Before your shining, full eyes
How good it is to live;
Before their light every limb is taut
Like a eucalyptus after a storm are you:
Tired, strong and still moving in the wind
My head will reach to…
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My Heart Is with Your Dews, Homeland
My heart is with your dews, homeland,
At night, above fields of nettles
And to the scent of cypresses and wet thistle
A hidden wing shall I spread out.
Soft sand-cradles are your roads
Spread out…
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Upon Your Nakedness a White Day Celebrates
Upon your nakedness a white day celebrates,
You who are [so] poor and so rich,
A wall of mountains has frozen,
Transparent like a deceptive vision,
Attached to the horizon.
Noon. The vastnesses of…
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My Palms Are Raised toward You
My palms are raised toward you,
To the little light
Which I still have in your eyes,
And you—sharpen your teeth
For the softness of my yellow flesh;
And were this flesh to be thrown upon the field
An…
Primary Source
Holy Grandmothers in Jerusalem
Holy grandmothers in Jerusalem,
May your virtue protect me.
The smell of blossoms and blooming orchards
I suckled with my mother’s milk.
Feet soft as hands, fumbling
In the torrid sand,
And tousled…