“How Shall I, So Poor, Go Forth?” The European Poetry of Rikuda Potash

Abstract

The Yiddish poet and fiction writer Rikuda Potash (1906–1965) published her first book of poetry, Vint oyf klavishn (Wind on Keys) in Łodþ, Poland, in 1934, the year she emigrated to Palestine. She continued writing in Yiddish and published two more collections of poetry; two volumes of her work appeared posthumously. Her European poetry, which has been ignored by critics, reflects her unique stance within the avant-garde of interwar Jewish modernism. Potash was a poet deeply concerned with the artistic process as well as firmly located in traditional Jewish culture. The four poems discussed in the article present widely ranging thematics, including the modern urban experience, gender issues, Christological motifs, the Polish countryside, and ars poesis.