Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on June 26, 2022

Following the Supreme Courts decision to reverse Roe vs. Wade, which opens the door for states to outlaw abortions, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) addressed the media with a statement that referenced a poem.

Today, the Republican-controlled Supreme Court has achieved their dark, extreme goal of ripping away a womans right to make their own reproductive health decisions, Pelosi remarked. While Republicans seek to punish and control women, Democrats will keep fighting ferociously to enshrine Roe vs. Wade into the law of the land.

Pelosi said she was overwhelmed by the courts decision and quoted the poem I Have No Other Country by Israeli poet Ehud Manor, whose writing Pelosi often turns to in times of strife.

I have no other country even though my land is burning/ Only a word of Hebrew penetrates my veins, my soul/ With an aching body and with a hungry heart/ Here is my home, Pelosi recited. I will not be silent for my country has changed her face/ I shall not give up on her/ I shall remind her and sing into her ears/ Until she opens her eyes.

Pelosi ended her public remarks by saying, Clearly, we hope that the Supreme Court would open its eyes.

Manor, the poems author, was an Israeli poet, lyricist, translator and media personality who was awarded the Israel Prize, the countrys highest cultural honor, in 1998 for his contributions to Israeli music.

As a songwriter, he wrote more than 1,000 Hebrew songs, including 1978 Eurovision Song Contest winner Abanibi, and translated hundreds of songs into Hebrew including the soundtracks of major musicals such as Cabaret, Les Misrables and Hair. He died in 2005.

This is not the first time that Pelosi has responded to worldwide events through poetry or even the first time she has cited this particular poem.

Pelosi also invoked the poem, which is actually the lyrics to a song Manor wrote in 1982, also titled I Have No Other Country, in January 2021 as she urged members of Congress to impeach former President Donald Trump following the Jan. 6 riot.

On St. Patricks Day, Pelosi recited a poem by U2s Bono at the White Houses holiday celebration in which he compared Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to St. Patrick.

Irelands sorrow and pain is now the Ukraine, Pelosi read. And St. Patricks name is now Zelensky.

Go here to see the original:

Who is the poet Pelosi recited in her Roe vs. Wade reaction? - Los Angeles Times

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