Lena Dunham Connected To Judaism Through Israeli Poet Yehuda Amichai

Image by Getty Images

By JTA October 1, 2017

(JTA) — Jewish actress, writer and director Lena Dunham announced to her 3.2 million followers on Instagram that she has connected to Judaism through the poetry of modern Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai.

In a post on erev Yom Kippur, Dunham wrote: “This past year a special person helped me connect to my Judaism in a new way, beyond bagels and sample sales and crushing guilt.”

She said that after the death of her grandmother she “suddenly felt a desire to understand what the religion that meant so much to her had to offer her granddaughter, even if my world view is far less cleanly structured than hers.”

“While I’ve learned a lot, I haven’t started going to temple. I haven’t married a lawyer. But I have fallen in love with the poetry of Yehuda Amichai and I am sorry to anyone I wronged this year (except for some people on Twitter.)

She included the image of two pages in a book with the Amichai poem “People Use Each Other” in English and in Hebrew.

The post received nearly 29,000 likes and comments ranging from Shanah Tova, to expressions of love for the actress, to recommendations of other poets.

This past year a special person helped me connect to my Judaism in a new way, beyond bagels and sample sales and crushing guilt. After my grandmother Dorothy died, I suddenly felt a desire to understand what the religion that meant so much to her had to offer her granddaughter, even if my world view is far less cleanly structured than hers (I hope you’re at the country club in the sky, Dottie, enjoying those white picket fences you dreamed of in a super cute but post-war normative way!) While I’ve learned a lot, I haven’t started going to temple. I haven’t married a lawyer. But I have fallen in love with the poetry of Yehuda Amichai and I am sorry to anyone I wronged this year (except for some people on Twitter.)

A post shared by Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) on Sep 29, 2017 at 4:52pm PDT

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO