What does it mean to compose a life through Sabbath rest, faithful work, and the patient practice of language? In this episode of Composed, Christine Perrin speaks with Annie Kantar Ben-Hillel, a poet, translator, teacher, and director of the English program at Shalem College in Jerusalem, about the patterns that have shaped her life as a mother, writer, citizen, and friend. Their conversation moves from a childhood formed by trust and moral responsibility, to the weekly reset of Shabbat, to the strange and beautiful labor of translating the Book of Job. Along the way, Annie reflects on Hebrew, Palestinian Arabic, friendship across fracture, and the need to remain questioning without becoming cynical.

The conversation also touches on Natalia Ginzburg’s “The Little Virtues,” Stefan Zweig’s The World of Yesterday, the Ethics of the Fathers, and the enduring hope that virtues can persist even in periods of historical grief and uncertainty.

About the Guest
Annie Kantar Ben-Hillel is a teacher, translator and poet who lives in Jerusalem and works at Shalem College. She has translated the Book of Job, among other poetry, and understands the way we live and befriend people inside of language. She describes the habits of language acquisition and its yield along with many other patterns that have shaped her life as a mother, writer, and citizen.

Guest Links
Kantar’s full-length collection of poems, Means To Be Lucky | https://www.poets-traitors.com/means-to-be-lucky
Translation from the Hebrew of With This Night, The final collection of poetry that Leah Goldberg published in her lifetime | https://bookshop.org/p/books/with-this-night-leah-goldberg/b76aceb9230cbea9
Translation of the Book of Job as part of Koren Publishers’ new translation of the Hebrew bible | https://korenpub.co.il/en/products/the-english-koren-tanakh-large-size-magerman-edition

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