Moshe Smilansky Born
February 24, 1874 Early Zionist leader Moshe Smilansky, whose influence ranges from the military to agriculture and literature, is born near Kyiv, Ukraine. Smilansky first visits Palestine in 1890 and settles in Rehovot in 1893…
Children’s Author Miriam Roth Born
February 16, 1910 Miriam Roth, whose Hebrew writing elevates children’s literature in Israel, is born in the Slovakian region of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. She attends various Jewish schools, including one run by her father, and…
Peretz Smolenskin Dies
February 1, 1885 Russian Jewish novelist, editor and early Zionist Peretz Smolenskin dies of tuberculosis at age 43 in Italy. Smolenskin was born in the Mogilev province of White Russia in 1842 and had a…
Writer Aharon Megged Dies
March 23, 2016 Aharon Megged, who won almost every literary prize in Israel, including the S.Y. Agnon Prize, Prime Minister’s Prize, President’s Prize and 2003 Israel Prize, dies in Tel Aviv at age 95. He…
Haifa Professor Announces He Has Deciphered Ancient Hebrew Inscription
University of Haifa Professor Gershon Galil announces that he has deciphered an inscription from the time of King David’s reign in the 10th century BCE.
First Kisufim Conference of Jewish Writers is Held in Israel
Organized by Israeli author Aharon Applefeld and politician Natan Sharansky, the Kisufim Conference opened in Jerusalem.
Ephraim Kishon Passes Away
Israeli writer, playwright, and film writer/director Ephraim Kishon passes away at the age of 80 in Switzerland.
Yehuda Amichai Passes Away
Yehuda Amichai, the Poet Laureate of Jerusalem, passes away from lymphoma at the age of 76.
Hanoch Levin Premieres Last Play
March 19, 1999 Israeli playwright Hanoch Levin’s final play, “Requiem,” makes its debut at the Cameri Theatre of Tel Aviv. The play is based on three short stories by Anton Chekhov. Levin dies of bone…
Intellectual Yeshayahu Leibowitz Dies
August 18, 1994 Yeshayahu Leibowitz, a controversial Jewish thinker and Israeli public intellectual, dies in his sleep at age 91 in Jerusalem. Leibowitz was born to a religious Zionist family in Riga, Latvia, in 1903….
Yehuda Amichai Is Awarded the Israel Prize for Poetry
Renowned Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai jointly wins the 1982 Israel Prize for poetry with Amir Gilboa.
Poet Avraham Shlonsky Dies
Avraham Shlonsky, renowned Israeli poet, editor, and translator, passes away in Tel Aviv at the age of 73.
Writer Avigdor Hameiri Dies
April 3, 1970 Hebrew poet and novelist Avigdor Hameiri, Israel’s first poet laureate, dies at age 79. Born into a farm family in a small Hungarian village, Hameiri had a typical Jewish education and was…
Writer-Musician Assaf Gavron Is Born
December 21, 1968 Assaf Gavron, a writer and musician, is born in Arad to English immigrants. Gavron spends his childhood in Motza Illit, near Jerusalem. He studies media and communication at Goldsmiths’ College in London…
Writer Etgar Keret Is Born
August 20, 1967 Etgar Keret, one of Israel’s most popular writers, is born in Ramat Gan. Keret’s quirky work, mainly short stories and graphic novels featuring odd twists and the unexpected, wins critical acclaim as…
Yitzhak Dov Berkowitz Dies
March 29, 1967 Russian-born writer Yitzhak Dov Berkowitz, who won the Bialik Prize, Israel Prize and Tchernichovsky Prize for Translation, dies after a short illness at age 82. Born in 1885 near Minsk, Berkowitz read…
Yiddish Writer Sholem Asch Dies
July 10, 1957 Yiddish novelist and playwright Sholem Asch dies at age 76 in London. Asch was born in Kutno in Russian-controlled Poland in 1880 as the youngest of 10 children in a Hasidic family….
Writer Gadi Taub Is Born
April 19, 1956 Writer and academic Gadi Taub, a leading commentator on the meaning of modern Zionism, is born in Jerusalem. Taub’s grandparents were Zionist pioneers who arrived in Palestine in the 1920s during the…
Poet Elisheva Bikhovsky Dies
March 27, 1949 Elisheva Bikhovsky, one of the “four mothers” of modern Hebrew poetry, dies of cancer at age 60 in Tiberias and is buried at Kvutzat Kinneret, a kibbutz. A native of Russia with…
Hannah Senesh Is Executed
Hannah Senesh (Szenes), the poet and Haganah fighter who parachuted into Nazi-occupied Europe to rescue Jews, is executed by Hungarian firing squad in a Budapest prison courtyard.
Journalist Ron Ben-Yishai Born in Jerusalem
Ron Ben-Yishai, a famous war correspondent and recipient of the 2018 Israel Prize, is born in Jerusalem.
Amos Oz Is Born in Jerusalem
Israeli author, journalist and intellectual Amos Oz is born as “Amos Klausner” in Jerusalem during the British Mandate.
Writer A.B. Yehoshua Is Born
December 19, 1936 Avraham B. Yehoshua, one of Israel’s most acclaimed writers, is born in Jerusalem into a Mizrahi/Sephardi family going back at least five generations in the city. His father, Ya’akov, is a historian…
Aharon Appelfeld Is Born
Aharon Appelfeld, an Israeli author, professor, and Holocaust survivor is born near Czernowitz, Ukraine (then part of Bukovina, Romania).
