\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis first US publication of Erez Bitton, one of Israel's most celebrated poets, recalls the fate of Moroccan Jewish culture with poems both evocative and pure. Considered the founding father of Mizrahi Israeli, a major tradition in the history of Hebrew poetry, Bitton's bilingual collection dramatically expands the scope of biographical experience and memory, ultimately resurrecting a vanishing world and culture.\u003c/P\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePreliminary Background Words\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/P\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eMy mother my mother\u003cbr\u003efrom a village of shrubs green of a different green.\u003cbr\u003eFrom a bird's nest producing milk sweeter than sweet.\u003cbr\u003eFrom a nightingale's cradle of a thousand Arabian nights.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\u003c/P\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eMy mother my mother\u003cbr\u003ewho staved off evil\u003cbr\u003ewith her middle fingers\u003cbr\u003ewith beating her chest\u003cbr\u003eon behalf of all mothers.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\u003c/P\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eMy father my father\u003cbr\u003ewho delved into worlds\u003cbr\u003ewho sanctified the Sabbath with pure Araq\u003cbr\u003ewho was most practiced\u003cbr\u003ein synagogue traditions.\u003c/i\u003e\u003c/P\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eAnd I\u0026#8212;\u003cbr\u003ehaving distanced myself\u003cbr\u003edeep into my heart\u003cbr\u003ewould recite\u003cbr\u003ewhen all were asleep\u003cbr\u003eshort Bach masses\u003cbr\u003edeep into my heart\u003cbr\u003ein Jewish-\u003cbr\u003eMoroccan.\u003c/i\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eErez Bitton \u003c/b\u003ewas born in 1942 to Moroccan parents in Oran, Algeria, and emigrated to Israel in 1948. Blinded by a stray hand grenade in Lod, he spent his childhood in Jerusalem's School for the Blind. He is considered the founding father of Mizrahi poetry in Israel\u0026#8212;the first poet to take on the conflict between North African immigrants and the Ashkenazi society, and the first to use Judeo-Arabic dialect in his poetry. His most recent award is the Bialik Lifetime Achievement Award (2014).\u003c/div\u003e
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