Uri Zvi Grinberg: the politics of avant-garde. The Hebrew Zionist revolution - 1924–1929

Authors

• Judith Winther Københavns universitet

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30752/nj.69529

Keywords:

Greenberg, Uri Zvi, 1896-1981, Zionism, Politics and Judaism, Messianism, Jewish, Israel, Expressionism, Poets, Israeli, Poets, Jewish, Communism and Judaism, Jewish poetry, Hebrew poetry, Yiddish poetry

Abstract

Uri Zvi Grinberg (1894–1981) lived at the crossroads of Jewish history, at a time when the Zionist movement was ambitiously caught in a process of bringing about a radical transformation aimed to alter the landscape and map of the history of the Jewish people and the individual, creating a new people and a new man. Of all Hebrew poets in the 20th century Uri Zvi Grinberg was the most politically committed. His political passion and struggle were at the very foundation of his poetry, profoundly imbued with the sense of his mission, rejecting violently an aesthetic value, a dwelling essence, detached from ideological interest and the messiness of history. He was drawn towards radical Zionist politics: active Hebrew messianism and messianic Hebraism. He understood Zionism as a secular messianic movement, trying to turn it into a political ideology, and trying to propose not only a program for a new understanding of Jewish history but also new guiding principles for Zionist activity.