Poetry and Dwelling: From Martin Heidegger to the Songbook of the Tent Revolution in Israel

Abstract:Heidegger's assumption that humans can just naturally " be" in a place does not account for the politics of space or for the way that some humans are denied or limited in their ability to be in a place, to immerse in it, to preserve it, and to define and be defined as humans by their existence in this space. The politics of " being" and "place" is problematic not only when discussing "geographical" spaces but also when it comes to the ability of individuals and communities "to dwell in texts." This paper focuses on Heidegger's idea of " dwelling" as presented in "Dwelling, Building, Thinking" written after the housing shortage in Germany and in the late essay "Poetically Man Dwells." I read these essays against the Jewish concept of " dwelling in texts," which—according to some scholars—developed out of a physical and not just a mental state of " homeliness." This essay looks at the ways in which the Jewish idea of " dwelling in texts" was manifested through writings that refer to the double meaning of " home" (bayit) as both a home and a stanza in a poem. Recent and interesting examples of giving new life to this old metaphorical use of bayit can be found in many contemporary poems including works by Dan Pagis, Almog Behar and by the social movement that brought thousands of Israeli citizens into the streets in the summer of 2011 to protest the housing shortage. One of the events held in Jerusalem during this time was a poetry reading entitled "Dwelling in the Homes / Stanzas of the Poem," a play on the double meaning of bayit, with the possible implication that the rising costs of housing have left the poetic stanza as the only affordable home. The collection raises the question of the complex connections between limitations on dwelling in physical spaces and in "poetic homes," a complexity that remains hidden in Heidegger's work.