In this episode, we begin by exploring two poems from the second half of the 19th century by prominent American poets.  One, "The Jewish Cemetery at Newport," by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, is generally thought to have been written during a visit to Newport in 1852 and was then published in 1854. The other, a response to that work by Emma Lazarus, called "In the Jewish Synagogue at Newport,"  was likely written in 1867 and then published in 1871.

Rabbi Dan Judson, Provost of Hebrew College, discusses how the poem by Lazarus both builds upon and deviates from Longfellow's poem. He then goes on to shares about the artistic and ideological journey that Emma Lazarus, as a Jewish American writer, took over the course of her career, using her poem "The Banner of the Jew," published in 1882, as an entry point to understand this journey.  He also touches on the ways in which her evolution speaks to Jewish identity in America and the American experience overall.