Rachel Bluwstein Breathes Life into Death

There are so many people who embodied the bravery and courage to pick up and leave everything they knew as home to come to a new land, a new community, and start a new life. These people contributed to the solidity and legitimacy of Eretz Yisrael and their drive for a spiritual and cultural connection and home is still prevalent to this day. Rachel Bluwstein was born in Russia in 1890 and she was one of the pioneers who contributed to the formation of Israel. In 1909, when she was 19 years old, she visited the Land of Israel and speaking only Russian along with her sister, she decided to stay. Later, she settled in Kibbutz Degania, an agricultural settlement on the shore of the Kinneret. She worked hard and was an extremely dedicated community member until she was diagnosed with tuberculosis which made physical labor an impossibility so she was kicked off of the Kibbutz and forced to find a home elsewhere. Rachel turned to poetry where she lived out the last years of her life in loneliness in a room in Tel Aviv. She often wrote of her longing to be understood, of the feeling of insignificance of a sick woman in a world that revered strength and power, and of the constant tension between the desire to be loved and the fear of the artistically destructive emotional and poetic price of love fulfilled. Her poetry was especially touching to read while sitting so close to her grave. One particular poem that stood out to me is called "Kinneret" which beautifully describes the imagery presented through the view looking out into the water; calm on the surface but restless below the wind. She is able to capture the image that I looked up to after reading her words with such simplicity and beauty. It was incredible and moving to look around and see the exact illustation of the "small palm tree/ With its tousled branches/ Like a mischievous child/ Running along the lake shore to dip his feet/ Into the waters of Kinneret." As I read her words I could truly feel them come to life by being at the exact place that she was descibing and experiencing the same exact view that she was taking in that inspired her writings. Rachel gave up a life of comforts and culture to become a Zionist pioneer. When her life was cut short by a terminal illness, she responded by capturing the Israeli pioneer experience and her love for the natural beauty of Israel through her expressive and simple words which I like to believe gave her the hope and strength to stay alive.