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Two Poems from Jerusalem

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Jewish homecoming to Israel reveals a profound psychological duality - a simultaneous pull toward and alienation from the promised land. Through two autobiographical poems, "Shaker Heights Jew on Mount Scopus" and "I Have Come Home," Judy Stonehill captures the complex tensions experienced by American Jews immigrating to Israel. Qualitative textual analysis of these poetic narratives illuminates the intersection of religious calling, cultural displacement, and identity formation. The first poem depicts the speaker's divine summons and subsequent questioning of purpose, while the second grapples with the paradox of belonging in a homeland that feels foreign. Close reading of personal testimony expressed through lyrical form reveals what the author terms "two Zions" in perpetual conflict - where physical return to ancestral homeland does not guarantee cultural or emotional integration, as American cultural identity persists alongside newly formed Israeli experiences. The research demonstrates that Jewish homecoming represents a complex negotiation between religious imperative, cultural heritage, and contemporary reality, challenging simplistic notions of diaspora return and suggesting that identity formation in Israel involves ongoing tension rather than resolution.

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    Published 1972

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    Judy Stonehill