An analysis of poems by Yehudah Amichai

Jews and visitors at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. Tourists at the Western Wall. (n.d.). https://www.seetheholyland.net/tag/wailing-wall/.

Having heard several poems from different authors and perspectives regarding the state of Jerusalem and its sites, I would like to highlight the poems that were recited in class by the poet Yehudah Amichai. 

The poems that were talked about in class were Tourists and Jerusalem is full of used Jews. To begin, Tourists talk about how Amichai sees the Tourists at the sites of Jerusalem as fake and manufacturing their emotions stating “They put on grave faces at the Wailing Wall And they laugh behind heavy curtains in their hotel rooms” (Amichai 3-5). Other lines from the poem describe the fetishization of the soldiers that protect Jerusalem with lines stating “They weep over our sweet boys And lust over our tough girls And hang up their underwear to dry quickly in cool, blue bathrooms” (Amichai 10-14).

In his other poem, Jerusalem is full of used Jews, Amichai metaphorically compares the Jews in Jerusalem to a circus with lines such as “always goaded on again for holidays, for memorial days, as circus bears dancing on aching legs” and mentions that Jerusalem needs a “ring-master…who can tame prophecies, train prophets to gallop around and around in a circle [and] teach its stones to line up in a bold, risky formation for the grand finale” (Amichai 7-8, 10-15).

Amichai has criticisms not only for those who visit Jerusalem but for those who live within the city. Although not explicitly mentioned, it is a criticism of Jews who do not live within Jerusalem for Tourists, and Jerusalem is full of used Jews it is not a criticism of the Jews in Jerusalem, but rather the system and narrative that has formed around the Jews in Jerusalem. In addition to these points, I would relate these poems as two perspectives from a narrator who has seen Jerusalem develop over time. In Tourists, the narrator contrasts what the tourists find amazing about the sites with the familiarity and day-to-day life of the man providing for his family. In the connection to Jerusalem is full of used Jews, the narrator may be a reflection of how Amichai feels as he has grown up in the area and seen the city change over time with tourism and wars. To conclude, these poems could be a representation of how not only Amichai feels about the city, but maybe also those in the same generation, and Amichai has brought those feelings to light.