The MiraculousDec/Jan 2023–24Music
58. 1933, New York City
Word count: 117
Paragraphs: 3
Interviewed by a journalist from the Yiddish daily Morgen Journal-Tageblatt, a world-famous African-American singer shares the news that he is looking around for a Yiddish opera to perform in. When asked why he is seeking an opera written in Yiddish rather than a work from the European operatic cannon, the singer replies that he feels little or no affinity with operas from Italy, France or Germany. “I do not understand the psychology of these people, their history has no parallels with the history of my forbearers who were slaves. The Jewish sigh and tear are close to me. I understand them [and] feel that these people are closer to the traditions of my race.”
(Paul Robeson)
Raphael Rubinstein is the New York-based author of The Miraculous (Paper Monument, 2014) and A Geniza (Granary Books, 2015). Excerpts from his recently completed book Libraries of Sand about the Jewish-Egyptian writer Edmond Jabès have appeared in Bomb, The Fortnightly Review and 3:AM Magazine. In January 2023, Bloomsbury Academic will publish a collection of his writing titled Negative Work: The Turn to Provisionality in Contemporary Art. Since 2008 he has been Professor of Critical Studies at the University of Houston School of Art.