Shirot Bialik

'In his graceful and lucid translation and thoroughgoing exhaustive annotations, Steven Jacobs renders to the English language readers a great service. It is a work for scholars and laity alike. To a broad spectrum of American Jewry - and not just to the scholar - it is now an exhilarating experience to read, in translation as is necessary, the verses of a modern Hebrew poet and to know that this work comes from his own mind and heart and from the majestic teachings of the tradition.But Jacobs does more than that.For lovers of Bialik, he locates the source of modern metaphor in the core of Scriptures, Talmud, and liturgy - the sacred texts of our people. No longer must the reader repair every other moment to a concordance to make the connection.For lovers of the traditional text, Jacobs’ annotations show how the ancient sources can lend themselves to a variety of meanings and to multiple levels of understanding, just as they did in the heart of a sensitive poet.And finally, to countless others, Jacobs herewith introduces Bialik for the first time and simultaneously conveys to them a sense of the richness and vastness of our traditional texts.All this is no small achievement. I have the feeling that Bialik - comfortable in his place in the other world - is composing a poem of gratitude to Steven Jacobs.'Blu Greenberg - Author of How to Run a Traditional Jewish Household, and On Women and Judaism