A Glorious Hebrew Poet—and Her Challenging Rhymes

I thank both Sarah Rindner and Michael Weingrad for their kind comments on “The Life, Work, and Legacy of Israel’s Most Beloved Poet.”

I am also grateful to Sarah Rindner for giving me a chance to reconsider my judgment of Raḥel as a “great minor poet.” The fact is that I had qualms about it from the moment I made it. In general, I dislike comparing writers on a “major-minor” or “good-great-greater-greatest” scale. If they must be compared with anyone, let it be with themselves: their strengths with their weaknesses, their talent with its fulfillment, the scope of their ambition with the magnitude of their work. Grading them as though they were all taking the same examination is pointless.

Why, then, in the case of Raḥel, did I give in to the temptation to be a grade giver? I suppose to preempt the hypothetical reader who might have said, “Well, yes, I can see why Raḥel was worth an essay, but her voice is so small.” That was foolish of me. The bird now singing exquisitely outside my window has a small voice, too. Shall we give it a mark of 86 because it doesn’t roar like the lion that gets a 97?