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  • Home
  • New Poems, Stories, Songs
  • New Translations
  • Poetry
    • Youth Poems
    • Two Poems about Brooklyn
    • Tefillin
    • Little Psalms
    • The Absence of Stone
    • Some Other Poems
    • Some Other, Other Poems
  • Music
  • Rav Kook
  • Jewish, Spiritual & Beautiful
  • About Myself
  • Contact
  • What Does "Dot-Letter-Word" Mean?
  Dot... Letter... Word...

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    New! ​Jewish Spiritual Growth:
    The Step-by-Step Guide of a Hasidic Master

    by Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira (the Piaseszner Rebbe)
    “A tour de force--a path to inner growth” —Professor Shaul Magid,  Indiana University/Bloomington
     “Brimming with beauty and contemporary relevance”—Rabbi Moshe Weinberger, Yeshiva University and Congregation Aish Kodesh
    “An authentic rendition of Hasidic spiritual guidance” —Rabbi Zvi Leshem, Gershom Scholem Library and Congregation Shirat Shlomo.
    "Clear, poetic and inspiring"--Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, Orthodox Union
    Available both in paperback and on Kindle. Find out more....

... Or Buy Now!
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​Hello! My name is Yaacov David Shulman, and I'm
 a creative writer, translator and editor.
I so much liked your perfect Little Psalms, some of them so much in the spirit (and often the language-of-feeling) of Yiddish poetry. You've created a fine amalgam of the American tongue and its sensibilities, and your new/old yeshiva explorations.
          —Cynthia Ozick, winner of the PEN/Nabokov Award, 2008.
Yaacov David Shulman is a master translator who is able to capture the language, the poetry and the beauty of Rav Kook’s Hebrew, which is often very difficult to read in the original, even by people who are very literate in Hebrew. 
          —Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, president emeritus of the Orthodox Union (OU). 

​​​Dot-Letter-Word is my opportunity to share with you:
My Writing: mostly poetry.
My Translating: great spiritual Jewish texts by Rav Kook, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, the Piaseszner Rebbe, and others.
Bonus: occasional songs. 
Click here to join the mailing list and get the latest updates or to hire me to edit or translate your work..

what's new

New Poems, Stories, Songs
April 5, 2018
The Foundation
When You're Doing Something Whole

April 4, 3028
The Ocelot

April 1, 2018
An Engine Pulls the Train to Saskatoon

March 30, 2018
What Tells the Cell to Be a Cell?

March 27, 2018
A Clear Mind, a Clean Forest

March 25, 2018
He Was a Simple Man

March 23, 2018
The Bear Is Wading through the River

March 21, 2018
The Dark Matter Wind

March 18, 2018
The Air We Breathe

March 16, 2018
This Is a Strong House

March 14, 2018
Quite a Lot of Weeds Here

March 13, 2018
Out There in Nepal

March 12, 2018
We Are Looking for the Road

March 8, 2018
A Field of Dust Covers the Star

March 7, 2018
Carefully Check the Records

March 6, 2018
A White Sun

March 3, 2018
In the Naryn Region of Kyrgizstan

March 1, 2018
Look

February 28, 2018
The Hollows

February 23, 2018
Dragon Bones and Mugwort

February 16, 2018
In Green Light

February 14, 2018
First, We Irradiate the Roots

February 9, 2018
Sometimes LSD Has a Delayed Reaction

February 9, 2018
Knowledge Itself Ducks into a Hole

February 6, 2018
The Minus Is by Nature Dead

February 5, 2018
Skyscrapers and Centipedes

February 4, 2018
The Indigo

February 2, 2018
On the 310th Floor

January 30, 208
In a Coccoon

January 28, 2018
The Light Itself

January 26, 2018
The Possum and the Sycamore

January 24, 2018
The Sea Recedes from the Bay

January 22, 2018
The Script, It Has a Cosmic Ring
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January 14, 2018
It Is All Quite Remarkable. Your Hand

January 12, 2018
You See Every Brick, You See the Traces

January 10, 2018
It Is Everything, It Is

January 9, 2018
The Stream No Longer Feeds the Pool

January 7, 2018
Far, Far from the Light of the Sun

January 2, 2018
His Home Was on a Hill, One Felt

January 1, 2018
The Ants Carry Seeds in Wavering Lines

December 29, 2017
The Water Trickling Down the Mountain

December 28, 2017
We Must Consider the Worth of a Thought

December 22, 2017
It Is an Advanced Sense, Perhaps

December 22, 2017
The Dragonfly Glows He Embodies

December 18, 2017
In the Dark, the Quiet, the Cold

December 15, 2017
A Lone Planet, Undisturbed by Other

December 8, 2017
All of the Breaths Are Organized

December 6, 2017
The Frog Egg and Sperm Float

December 4, 2017
Here Is an Infinite Mechanism--Or

November 30, 2017
A Bird Has to Have Wings. A Photon

November 26, 2017
"Come," Say Saturn and Fluorescent Neptune

November 24, 2017
The Moon Is a Placid Lake. The Light

November 23, 2017
Ask Nicely. Say Please. It Shows

November 21, 2017
"No," Said the Shopkeeper to the Shoplifter

November 19, 2017
A Light that Shines from Upstairs

November 14, 2017
The Knowledge of Evil Spreads, It

November 12, 2017
Those People in the Condominiums

November 10, 2017
What Your Heart Is Feeling, If You

November 8, 2017
The Word for the Future Is Kindness

November 7, 2017
There Are Realities that the Mind

November 6, 2017
So When You Knock Down the Walls

November 3, 2017
Sometimes a Little Mental Scraping

October 30, 2017
Well Now, Here's a Wall

October 27, 2017
Well Then, Figure It Out

October 25, 2017
First You Set Your Mind in Order

October 24, 2017
First of All, the Song

October 20, 2017
One Thought Filled with the Epitome

October 18, 2017
It Is All One: The Honor of

October 18, 2017
The Cascading River Carried an Armada

October 16, 2017
Here You Are, You're Yearning for That

October 8, 2017
The Body Listens to the Soul Ring

October 6, 2017
A Holy Soul Needs a Body That

October 4, 2017
What Do We Understand
What They Had to Work For

September 29, 2017
Among the Forgotten Things, from Kung to Dunung

September 28, 2017
I Remembered, I Forgot

September 26, 2017
When You're Coming Back to Life

September 24, 2017
The Desire to Say a Word

September 20, 2017
I Look at White Light with Smoky Lenses

September 19, 2017
The Flow of Light Swamps the Soul

September 17, 2017
Like an Entire Beach

September 15, 2017
Only Something Clean Can Stop

September 15, 2017
A Highrise Apartment

September 13, 2017
An Intensity that Doesn't Pause

September 6, 2017
Every Soul, Great and Small

September 5, 2017
A Holy Fire, Heat

September 3, 2017
Inside Me, Perhaps

September 1, 2017
There Are Prayers Carved

August 30, 2017
There Is No Way

August 27, 2017
A Small Point
Stream

August 25, 2017
To Return to the Law

August 22, 2017
When We Remember God

August 20, 2017
Supercooled Helium Can Flow

August 17, 2017
Sometimes, Words of Prayer Glow

August 16, 2017
In You I See a Field

August 14, 2017
There Are Two Types of Trails

August 13, 2017
How Difficult to Decide

August 11, 2017
You Broke

August 10, 2017
The Argus Pheasant

August 6, 2017
This Beautiful Song

August 4, 2017
The Dimness Grows Bright

July 30, 2017
You Take in Impressions
It Isn't Easy to Find

July 28, 2017
In Xaafuun, the Wisdom

July 25, 2017
Oh We Are as Refined

July 23, 2017
My Thoughts Are Elephants

July 21, 2017
You Know Who You Are

July 18, 2017
This World of Doorknobs

July 16, 2017
The Infinite Gesture, the Palm

July 14, 2017
There Is a Small Kind of Sadness

July 12, 2017
If You Want Nothing for Yourself

July 7, 2017
Before the Idol

July 5, 2017
The Natural Avenues

July 2, 2017
Pride (The Kind that Expels

June 30, 2017
The World of Gods and Ziggurats

June 29, 2017
The Kind of Life We're Leading

June 23, 2017
There Are a Few, Here and There

June 21, 2017
I Have an Idea. It Looks Like

June 18, 2017
Everything We Make

June 16, 2017
An Empty Hole Is Filled

June 16, 2017
It May Be Described

June 11, 2017
The Contours of the Earth

June 8, 2017
I Must Wait, and Wait

June 5, 2017
The Whole World Takes Up

June 4, 2017
Service I Don't Mean Plates

\June 2, 2017
When We Are Cleaned and Shine

June 2, 2017
I Am More Afraid of the Small Worm

June 2, 2017
All of the Names in the World

May 30, 2017
What Does It Mean to Cling

May 25, 2017
Everything Has an Up and

May 23, 2017
Our Thoughts Trundle

May 22, 2017
I Was Sitting in Class, and

May 19, 2017
For Everything We Need, We Use

May 16, 2017
Light Is Streaming

May 14, 2017
Here's Just One Letter, Well

May 12, 2017
Everything Has Free Will
When the Lights of Joy

​May 11, 2017
At the Pinnacle
Prayer Turns Everything
We Can Enrich the Entire World

May 9, 2017
The Letters Inside Me

May 7, 2017
Heaven is Not Stingy

May 5, 2017
One Cup of Silver Melts

May 4, 2017
This Bird Knew

May 4, 2017
Sometimes Resting Is Not Rest

May 1, 2017
I Forget, and All the Letters

April 28, 2017
OK, Knowledge Is All About

April 26, 2017
There Are Some People Who

April 21, 2017
There Are Some People

April 20, 2017
The Freedom of Thought

April 18, 2017
My Mind Is Sinking (Like

April 16, 2017
This Here Body (Even If

April 14, 2017
There Is a World that Is So Large

April 12, 2017
Thinking about Faith, Thinking

April 10, 2017
We Refine Our Praise Because

April 6, 2017
Oh How I've Come Down

April 2, 2017
You Are (You Say) Ashamed

March 31, 2017
Don't Be Scared

March 30, 2017
I Shake All Over with Rossby Waves

March 28, 2017\
The Light Is On, But Inside

March 27, 2017
I Think (I Think!) There Are Thoughts

March 24, 2017
When You Cannot See the Light of

March 23, 2017
What Is Holiness? Is It

March 19, 2017
The Truly Great Soul

March 16, 2017
Don't Be Afraid (Of What?)

March 12, 2017
להרים את הגורל

​March 10, 2017
The Sweeter the Water

March 9, 2017
Mind and Heart, at Their Peak

March 8, 2017
God's Lamp Is Shining

March 7, 2017
There Is Nothing in the World

March 5, 2017
Healthy Bodies, Meaning: Pure and Clear

March 3, 2017
The Songbird Sings

March 1, 2017
When It Is Love

February 28, 2017
If You Think that Your Prayers

February 27, 2017
Why, We Never Have to Leave

February 24, 2017
If Only My Imagination Would Be As Clear

February 23, 2017
My Window Was So Clear (New & Improved!)

February 23, 2017
My Window Was So Clear

February 21, 2017
It Is Hard to Balance

February 19, 2017
My Body Needs Iron, and So Does My Soul

February 17, 2017
Sometimes the Individual

February 16, 2017
When Our Senses Are Like Glass

February 14, 2017
Until the Good Fills the Canals

February 12, 2017
All We Know Is Rays of Light

February 10, 2017
All of These Books

February 10, 2017
Your Eye Is as Big as a Lunar Parasol

February 8, 2017
When My Eye, Which Is Open and Rational

February 7, 2017
The Story of Creation

February 6, 2017
How Foolish People Are

February 3, 2017
Sometimes Pure Faith

January 31, 2017
My Thoughts Contradict Each Other

January 30, 2017
I Guess the Stars Are High

January 25, 2017
Truth Doesn't Appear Bit by Bit

January 24, 2017
As You'll See, If You Follow Me Down into the Cellar

​January 20, 2017
Does Knowledge Make Man Happy?

January 19, 2017
How, You May Say, Happy Are You

January 15, 2017
Without Wisdom, Prayer Is Not Much

January 15, 2017
Twelve Times Twelve Is a Hundred and Forty Four

January 13, 2017
The Sea Has No Water

January 12, 2017
Each Island Has Its Own Fruits

January 5, 2017
It Reaches But It Does Not
The World Was Created for Me

January 4, 2017
A River Flows It Wishes to Flow

January 1, 2017
As Jagged as a Cracked Wave

December 30, 2016
The Honey of Insight, Its Expanding Lines

December 28, 2016
Oh Fierce Nostalgia

December 27, 2016
The Spirit Grows

December 23, 2016
Do Not Deprecate

December 21, 2016
Every Soul of Cobalt Blue

December 16, 2016
No More than What I Have, I Have

December 8, 2016
I Fled the Moose, I Stalked the Bear

July 22, 2016
My Dear Friend, I Do Not Write These Words

July 4, 2016
You Call the Enemy to the Gate

June 13, 2016
A Song about a Skulking Bird: Aquarius (go to bottom of page)

June 5, 2016
A Stroll through Jerusalem

June 3, 2016
You are a Cloud, a Fuzzy Swarm

​May 31, 2016
...The Women White Were Wearing

May 23, 2016
Bear, Dreaming of Old Age

May 20, 2016
"Why Do I"--Aye Aye Aiie--
The Bridge: A Short Story (can you be religious and creative?)
​
May 19, 2016
The River Barreled Topsidedown

May 17, 2016
The Marvelous Revival of Rabbi Barton: A Short Story

May 14, 2016
Never Stay in Forests Nor Love the Hind
There Are Ships that Are Lustful
The Houses Huddle upon the Onyar River
I Put Off Living Because

May 13, 2016
Thought Is Kind
The Orb Described a Curve
The Mouth of the Lion Lies to My East
Has Any Mind Imprisoned You?

April 14, 2016
South of Chios
Spearhead Island

April 7, 2016
The Name of the District
Even that which Is
Creatures of the Moon
Loud-Roaring, Wine-Colored Sea

March 23, 2016 (Purim)
The Story of the Third Little Piggy
​
March 10, 2016
I Found Myself Out-
Poetry Is, Please 
Being Hated Has 
There Are So Many Heads 
The Meadow Flowers Flow in the Breeze 
Between Today and Tomorrow, My 

​February 10, 2016
​"Arrow..." in which I take "An Arrow that Shoots" and transform it into a poem with an A-A-A rhyme scheme, in which the rhyme appears in the first, middle and last word of each three line stanza (each time in a different order).

February 9, 2016
"An Arrow that Shoots"--where I take "There in the Heavens," based on a Pablo Neruda poem, and transform it into a series of "choka" poems.

February 7, 2016
"There in the Heavens," a poem whose body was robbed from Pablo Neruda

February 3, 2016:
A few "choka" poems and two "sedoka" poems (both Japanese forms).

January 31, 2016:
A few poems in the Japanese "tanka" style: lines with syllable counts of 5, 7, 5, 7, 7.

​January 30, 2016: 
A few poems experimenting with alliteration, assonance and rhyme schemes.
New Translations
August 24, 2017
All Streams Rule in Me by Rav Kook

June 29, 2017
Driven to Sin by Overwhelming Desire (Tzidkat Hatzaddik)

July 15, 2016
Likutei Moharan Hamevuar: Teaching 3, Complete!

June 5, 2016
Likutei Moharan Hamevuar: Teaching 2, Complete!--Rabbi Nachman's Magnum Opus, with commentary by Rabbi Yehoshua Gross

May 14, 2016
by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook:
The Wonderful Tzaddikim
From the Comprehensive Light
All Descriptions of Life
The Intelligent Eye
Every Authentic Creation
The Big Truth
Even When the Body is Broken and Crushed
Literature and Prophecy
The Creative Soul

March 18, 2016
Prologue to Likutei Moharan, with the commentary of Likutei Moharan Hamevuar.
​
March 10, 2016
Rabbi Nachman's Pleasant Song, which appears at the beginning of Likutei Moharan

February 22, 2016
Profound Creativity, by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

February 13, 2016
Three translations of Yiddish poems:
​Ballad of the Ragged Man and the Crucified by Itzik Manger
Treblinka Candidate by H. Leivick
Autumn by Itzik Manger

February 5, 2016:
Fifty years after the passing of Rabbi Shlomo Elyashiv, author of the Kabbalistic classic, Lechem Shevo Ve'achlamah, a brief biography and appreciation by Rabbi S. Deblitzki. (Notice that sadly, because of prejudice in certain quarters, he avoided citing Rabbi Elyashiv's colleague, Rav Kook, by name and only referred to him as "one of the great leaders and tzaddikim of the generation.")

January 30, 2016:
Rabbi Aryeh Levin ("A Tzaddik in Our Time") wrote a brief biography of his father-in-law, Rabbi Shlomo Elyashiv, author of the Kabbalistic classic, Lechem Shevo Ve'achlamah. It appears here for the first time in English.


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