New Books in Jewish Studies Wendy I. Zierler, "Going Out with Knots: My Two Kaddish Years with Hebrew Poetry" (Jewish Publication Society, 2025)
Nov 18, 2025
Wendy I. Zierler, a scholar and author specializing in modern Hebrew literature, takes listeners on an intimate journey through mourning and poetry. She shares how her personal losses and experiences with Kaddish inspired her hybrid memoir, illuminating the healing power of Hebrew poetry. Zierler discusses her connection to poets like Lea Goldberg and Yehuda Amichai, and how reclaiming women's voices in Hebrew literature adds depth to traditional practices. Her insights reveal a transformative approach to grief and community engagement through poetry.
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Kaddish Became A Weekly Poetry Practice
- Wendy Zierler began saying Kaddish after losing both parents and taught weekly modern Hebrew poems to her congregation while mourning.
- That teaching practice turned her private grief into a communal ritual and became the seed for the book.
Mishnah Moment Sparked The Project
- While wearing her father's tallit she read a Mishnah saying daughters 'never miss their fathers' and felt enraged and invalidated.
- That moment propelled her to seek contemporary resources (poetry) to reconcile personal mourning with tradition.
Poetry Rebuilds Language After Loss
- Poetry restores language after grief by using metaphor to connect unlike experiences and reframe the mourner's world.
- Translation plus teaching moves private processing into communal healing and reasserts agency.
