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Article: Irving Howe and secular Jewishness: an elegy.
- Article from:
- Judaism
- Article date:
- January 1, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 American Jewish Congress. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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It's as hard to return to old-fashioned words as to sad synagogues, those thresholds of faith. You know exactly where they are. Troubled, you can still hear their undertones. Sometimes you come close and look longingly at them through the windowpanes.
You who still take your ease in the shadow of biblical trees, O sing me the cool solace of all you remember, all that you know.
Jacob Glatstein, "Without Gifts"(1)
The last letter Irving Howe wrote to me was dated April 30, 1993, five days before his death. He reported in it that 1992 had been a terrible year for him because of three operations in rapid succession, but that he was now much improved. But ...