Yiddish Genesis by Richard Fein

Yiddish Genesis

Yiddish Genesis is a chronological collection of personal essays from 1968 to 2010, exploring Fein's deep connection to Yiddish and the Book of Genesis. These essays reflect his lifelong obsessions, tracing back to childhood, and reveal how he claims these themes through his writing.

Author's introduction: "This book stems from obsessions rooted in my childhood that reappear in adulthood. When obsessions find a voice, they shape experience. I explore Yiddish and Genesis by entering and re-entering these materials, allowing them to claim me as my poetry does."

Much of the book addresses translation, which Fein views not as a side task but as a vital part of his poetic development—a form of second birth. These essays engage with Jewish literature that has long influenced him, serving as a means of self-understanding through decades of reflection.

To borrow a Chagallian image, he observes "the horse that eyes me" in his village of memory and reading, symbolizing the ongoing dialogue between past and present.