Proverbs 8:22-31

The Lord created me at the outset of His way,

the very first of His works of old.

In remote eons I was shaped,

at the start of the first things of earth.

When there were no deeps I was spawned,

when there were no wellsprings, water sources.

Before mountains were anchored down,

before hills I was spawned.

He had yet not made earth and open land,

and the world’s first clods of soil.

When He founded the heavens, I was there,

when He traced a circle on the face of the deep,

when He propped up the skies above,

when He powered the springs of the deep,

when He set to the sea its limit,

that the waters not flout His command,

when He strengthened the earth’s foundations.

And I was by Him, an intimate,

I was His delight day after day,

playing before Him at all times,

playing in the world, His earth,

and my delight with humankind.

The Old Country, Twice Removed

Allan Arkush

My grandfather had a way of mentioning the Kiev guberniya (province) that made it sound to me, when I was a boy, like it was our place in the Old Country—and more than half a century later, it still does.

Summer 2012

Matisse and His Jewish Patrons

Catherine C. Bock-Weiss

Some of Henri Matisse's earliest and most committed supporters (and buyers) were Jewish. That might explain why Histoires Juives, a book of Yiddish jokes in French translation, and other Jewish items can be found in his paintings.

Fall 2011