BLESSINGS OF THE TANAKH

Ever since God called Abram from Ur, he has conveyed his revelation and displayed his splendors to the chosen Hebrew people. Bazyn's introduction incorporates fictional first-person recreations of Cain's murder of Abel and Rachel's theft of the household idols. His poems investigate such pivotal moments as Jacob's wrestling with an angel; the Israelites' faint-heartedness and desire to return to Egypt in the wilderness; the rise of monarchy and its alarming consequences; the prophet Elijah's troubled relationship with King Ahab; Jonah's futile flight from a call to preach repentance in Nineveh. Not afraid to tackle complex, difficult-to-resolve theological issues, Bazyn weighs in on faith, judgment, idolatry, free will, suffering, repentance, the coming Messiah, and resurrection. His taut, condensed style, thick with intriguing metaphors, probes the believer's conduct and motivation: Why does God at times seem so distant and hidden? What does it feel like to be persecuted? To aid in discerning each poem's meaning, Bazyn has added allusive, revelatory 35mm black-and-white photographs. Whether as a Jew, a Christian, or an unbeliever who is curious about the Tanakh's significance, you are drawn into this net of words, cut to the quick by standing naked and exposed before your maker like Job.