Were personal love letters written by poets written with the knowledge that they would be read with foreign eyes generations later? This question and others will be answered by Haim Be'er, Avraham Balaban, Agi Mishol and Adiva Geffen, in a session to be held at the Metula Poets Festival.
"Every artist hopes that his archive will arouse interest and that researchers and media people will come. It gives us immortality," says Adiva Geffen, director of the Ganzim Institute. "Every creator would love to know that his archive, what he wrote and his letters will continue to be of interest to the public. A love letter that remained, the creator could have destroyed it. Knowledge that will remain in the archive, knowledge that they will reach it, and maybe he said, 'You will reach me in another way.'"
The Ganzim Institute currently houses some 850 archives of authors that provide a glimpse into the world of beloved writers. "The archive contains manuscripts, drafts, documents, photographs and letters, and in fact the letters are the most personal and interesting part. This is the net person - he is angry, he quarrels, he is happy, he borrows money and returns money, he lives. A whole world opens up to us. And within the world of letters, love letters are the most interesting. For example, we found a courtship letter Bialik wrote to a girl he met in London. He writes to her, among other things, 'You know how pleasant and dear you were to me in your few days of closeness, as a daughter, as a sister, as a bride' – and we are reminded of the poem 'Bring Me Under Your Wing.'"
Letter from K. Cetnik to his wife,
The letters manage to present unfamiliar angles on the creators. "We found at the Institute a courtship letter sent by Brenner to Chaya Broide, which is very moving. Brenner is usually known as a strict and bitter man, even depressive, and in a letter he suddenly comes out as a soft, warm and conciliatory man. This is another perspective on an important creator. We showed the letter to his grandchildren, and they were moved and crying. They said that Grandpa was known as a difficult man, and suddenly he was known by a different face."
The letter began: "I think a lot these days about you and our relationship, a great deal. I want to see you yearn and yearn for you." Brenner invites her to meet with him and writes, "The mistake was only in this, that I thought I could live at rest even without you, and lo and behold... Surely you know that anguish has been prepared for both of us when you come here now. But there will be no emptiness: eating together, studying the Bible, reading in Shofman, a trip to Abraham's Vineyard and the Tomb of Rachel our mother (if not great). Emptiness will not be. If I have the strength, as in the good old days, to kiss you when I want and to put you as a seal on my heart, surely the emptiness will diminish to the limit of zero. But there will be suffering. You know, chastisement will be from my difficult, uncertain but loving nature—and do when your heart is tender."
"This is not gossip"
Geffen emphasizes that in her eyes this is not gossip, but an essential addition to getting to know the creators. "It's not a glimpse, it's not gossip, God forbid, but another perspective on the creator and his activity. Perhaps we also need perspective, that is, to wait until all concerned are not alive and the publicity does not harm anyone. We are very careful. But overall it's so human, and nothing human is foreign to us."
The letters are in the possession of the Institute, and they can publish without the permission of the heirs only letters that have passed 70 years since the death of the author. For example, the letters of Leah Goldberg, who died 53 years ago, and the archive of courtship letters she wrote to men and to her. "Leah Goldberg didn't let us know what her heart held. Her letters in the business of the heart are very reserved. She leaves no clues at all. Letters are usually an intimate entry into the soul. Creators' letters are often literary works in their own right."
Bialik's love letter,
In another interesting letter, Yechiel Di-Nur, popularly known as "K. Cetnik," writes to his wife, addressing her as "the love of my soul, my Yaelat Chen." Di-Nur writes to her when he is far away and has not seen her for a while, and writes, "Master of the Universe! Why can't a person see the full glow of the pearl when it is placed on the apple of his eye, but precisely when it is some distance from his pupil?" and concludes with his wish, "Yours, bathed in longing and love to no end." This is a side of the Holocaust writer that the public does not know, and could not have discovered otherwise.
Love for the Hebrew language
This is the 26th year that the Metula Poets Festival has been held, initiated by Confederation House. This year, the figure of Haim Nachman Bialik will be at the center of the festival, in a year marking the 150th anniversary of his birth. "We are after several months of political storms, and there was a feeling that the broadest common denominator was the love for the Hebrew language," says Shiri Lev Ari, artistic director of the festival together with Benny Ziffer. Lev Ari will also lead the session dealing with the hidden letters.
Lev Ari outlines some of the main trends at this year's festival: "Another theme that repeats itself in all kinds of versions is the thin and fragile line between written and composed poetry, between poetry and chorus - a panel on Yaakov Shabtai's songs. Alon Oleartchik, who will soon publish a book of poems, will be a guest and event in honor of Nathan Yonatan, who as a very composed poet made him in the consciousness more of a songwriter than a poet, forgetting the fact that he was a wonderful poet, as well as a meeting show about the work of Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen, hosted by Kobi Meidan."
In the year that some of the most prominent Hebrew artists have passed away, the festival will miss the artists who took part in it over the years. "We will hold two tributes to two artists who were supposed to participate in the festival - Meir Wieseltier, who was supposed to read new poems he wrote and participate in an event dedicated to his translations from English; And Meir Shalev, who was also last year and we wanted him to come this year as well, and instead we will hold an event in his memory."
The Metula Poets Festival will open today (Thursday) and continue until Saturday.
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