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Lesson 9 of 9·The Wisdom of Jewish Literature

“The Sermon” by Haim Hazaz

In this story, Yudka, a young kibbutznik, delivers a radical sermon arguing that Zionism must break from diasporic Jewish existence and all of Jewish tradition. Yet Yudka's fervent outburst leaves his audience bewildered rather than inspired, and even Yudka himself pulls back. Does a new Jewish future demand such an aggressive repudiation of the Jewish past?

Taught By

Ruth R. Wisse
Ruth R. Wisse is professor emerita of Yiddish and comparative literatures at Harvard and a distinguished senior fellow at Tikvah. Her memoir Free as a Jew: a Personal Memoir of National Self-Liberation, chapters of which appeared in Mosaic in somewhat different form, is out from Wicked Son Press.