Full Description
A dynamic dialogue of poetry and art that reimagines the ancient, biblical concept of sacrifice.
Winner of the 2022 Gerald Lampert Memorial Award presented by the League of Canadian Poets
A collaboration between poet Alisha Kaplan and artist Tobi Aaron Kahn, Qorbanot-the Hebrew word for "sacrificial offerings"-explores the concept of sacrifice, offering a new vision of an ancient practice. A dynamic dialogue of text and image, the book is a poetic and visual exegesis on Leviticus, a visceral and psychological exploration of ritual offerings, and a conversation about how notions of sacrifice continue to resonate in the twenty-first century.
Both from Holocaust survivor families, Kaplan and Kahn deal extensively with the Holocaust in their work. Here, the modes of poetry and art express the complexity of belief, the reverberations of trauma, and the significance of ritual. In the poems, the speaker, offspring of burnt offerings, searches for meaning in her grandparents' experiences and in the long tradition of Orthodox Judaism in which she was raised. Kahn's paintings on handmade paper, drawn from decades of his career as an artist, have not previously been exhibited or published. They reflect his quest to distill a legacy of trauma and loss into enduring memory.
With a foreword by James E. Young and essays by Ezra Cappell, Lori Hope Lefkovitz, and Sasha Pimentel, the book presents new directions for thinking about what sacrifice means in religious, social, and personal contexts, and harkens back to foundational traditions, challenging them in reimagined and artistic ways.
Contents
Foreword by James E. Young
Part I
Study for QUADAR
Grain Offering
Part II
Study for YMNAH
Guilt Offering
Peace Offering
Study for VEIKUT
Study for EIKA
Masada Offering
Study for AKYLA
Guilt Offering
Guilt Offering
Study for OLYH
Study for YSKHA
Peace Offering
vow
Study for KYNH v. 2
Part III
Study for TYLA
Prelinguistic Offering
Sin Offering
Study for SAKEN ABI
Sin Offering
Study for YDRA
Offering from Which There Is No Turning Back
Study for AYALA v. 1
Offering of the Unclassifiables
Study for MUKAPH
Study for ORTYA
Burnt Offering
vow
Study for ARYNH
Part IV
Study for MYRR
Sin Offering
Grain Offering
Study for AHMAM
Sin Offering
Study for GHAMA
Study for ESALH
Offering in Which an Angel Appears to Moses in a Blaze of Fire from the Midst of a Bush
Study for SHAARH
Sin Offering
Study for EKHEV
Burnt Offering
Offering to the Lost Poet Rosemary Tonks
Study for AHDU
Study for JHYA v. 3
Heave Offering
Burnt Offering
Study for UPILH
vow
Study for KADYH
Part V
Study for RYSTA
Heirlooms Offering
Guilt Offering
Study for ZYRHA v. 3
Offering to My Mother
Study for TZAAK
Study for KESER
Burnt Offering
Burnt Offering
Study for KANAKI
Study for CKIYA
Burnt Offering
Dinner Table Offering
Study for AERAH
vow
Study for KHYTA
Part VI
Study for AKAMU
Offering of Ten Dresses
Study for QINTA v. 3
Offering to Azazel
Offering for Béla Rubinstein
Study for KETUBA
Study for AGAREH
Grain Offering
Offering in Which the Speaker Transcends to the Third Person
Study for IYHAN
vow
Study for ARA ILAM v. 3
Study for MYSHA
Salt Offering
Orientation Offering
Study for YETZIRA v. 4
Offering of Seven Heavens
Study for LEHU
Study for BYKOT
Offering in the Holy of Holies
Part VII
Avodah
Study for STARHA v. 1
Essays
Too Long a Sacrifice
Ezra Cappell
In the Spaces Between
Lori Hope Lefkovitz
What We Can Offer
Sasha Pimentel
Acknowledgments
List of Images
About the Authors and Contributors
