Peter Cole’s most recent books include Things on Which I’ve Stumbled (New Directions) and The Poetry of Kabbalah: Mystical Verse from the Jewish Tradition (Yale). He is currently a MacArthur Fellow.
Photograph courtesy Adina Hoffman.
Israel Is
Israel is he or she who wrestles
with God--call him what you will,
not some goon (with a rabbi and gun)
in a pre-fab home on a biblical hill.


