Tekiah

by Richard Chess

These poems search for compatibility between contemporary consciousness and a rich, ancient liturgical tradition. Specifically, they explore the deep feelings of joy and regret, shame and hope associated with the Days of Awe, the Jewish High Holidays, beginning with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and concluding with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Tekiah refers to the sound of the shofar , the ceremonial ram's horn that is blown to commemorate the beginning of creation. The sound also recalls the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, the destruction of the Temple, and the binding of Isaac, and anticipates as well the reunification of the Jews of the Diaspora. Finally, and perhaps most important, it serves as an entreaty to the Jewish people to perform teshuvah , to return to God.

Genres: Poetry

88 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1994

About the author

Richard Chess was born in Los Angeles. He spent most of his childhood and youth in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. He is the author of three books of poetry, Third Temple (2007), Chair in the Desert (2000), and Tekiah (1994). His poems have appeared in many journals as well as several anthologies, including Best American Spiritual Writing 2005 and Telling and Remembering: A Century of American-Jewish Poetry.

An award winning and much-sought after teacher, he is professor of literature and language at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. He directs UNCA’s Center for Jewish Studies as well as UNCA’s Creative Writing Program. He has been a member of the low-residency MFA faculties at Warren Wilson College and Queens College. He served for a number of years as writer-in-residence at the Brandeis Bardin Institute in Simi Valley, California. He is now assistant director of The Jewish Arts Institute at Elat Chayyim, located at the Isabella Freedman Retreat Center, where he will be teaching creative writing in a two year training institute that begins in August of 2007. He is poetry editor of Zeek: A Jewish Journal of Thought and Culture.

Reviews

[Jamie Dougherty · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Favorites:

Growing Up in a Jewish Neighborhood
That's How It Is
The Good Jew
Ofra Haza
Guardians
Prayer for the Bride
The End of the Retreat
God
At the Rabbi's Study Group
Holocaust Day
The Eve of Rosh Hashanah, 500 Years After the Inquisition
Making Cain
Bless Us With Peace, Angels of Peace
Tekiah Gedolah

[Alexandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Compelling imagery. Beautiful language. Alternately comical, serious, and romantic. Some of the images were unusually powerful. An altogether immaculate collection.

[Joshua Gage · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tekiah is a very strong collection of poems focused on the Jewish experience. The imagery is rich and powerful, and the turns of phrase in each line are tight. This is a very solid collection of poems.

[Meg Clayton]

poetry,1st edition,Signed