Ephraim Kishon Passes AwayCIE+
Israeli writer, playwright, and film writer/director Ephraim Kishon passes away at the age of 80 in Switzerland.
“Hatikvah” Officially Declared National AnthemCIE+
November 10, 2004 More than half a century after the founding of the state of Israel, the Knesset officially adopts “Hatikvah” (“The Hope”) as the national anthem. The song became the anthem of the Zionist…
Poet Natan Yonatan DiesCIE+
March 12, 2004 Natan Yonatan, one of Israel’s greatest poets, dies at age 80. Yonatan was born in Kyiv in 1923 and soon immigrated to Palestine with his parents. A few years later the family…
Poet Yehuda Amichai DiesCIE+
Yehuda Amichai, the poet laureate of Jerusalem, dies from lymphoma at the age of 76.
Hanoch Levin Premieres Last PlayCIE+
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 DiesCIE+
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….
Intellectual Dov Sadan DiesCIE+
Israeli intellectual and former Knesset member Dov Sadan dies at the age of 87.
Linguist Avraham Even-Shoshan DiesCIE+
August 8, 1984 Hebrew linguist and lexicographer Avraham Even-Shoshan dies at age 77 in Tel Aviv and is buried in Jerusalem. Born Avraham Rosenstein in 1906 in Minsk, Belarus, he attended a Jewish school run…
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 DiesCIE+
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 BornCIE+
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 BornCIE+
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…
Writer Yitzhak Dov Berkowitz DiesCIE+
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 DiesCIE+
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…
Rabbi/Philosopher Shagar Is BornCIE+
November 13, 1949 Rabbi Shimon Gershon Rosenberg, known by the acronym Shagar, is born in Jerusalem to Reb Shalom Zelig and Sasi Rosenberg, both Holocaust survivors. Shagar is recognized as a rabbi, a philosopher of…
Poet Elisheva Bikhovsky DiesCIE+
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 ExecutedCIE+
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 Is Born in JerusalemCIE+
Ron Ben-Yishai, a famous war correspondent and recipient of the 2018 Israel Prize, is born in Jerusalem.
Amos Oz Is Born in JerusalemCIE+
Israeli author, journalist and intellectual Amos Oz is born as “Amos Klausner” in Jerusalem during the British Mandate.
Writer A.B. Yehoshua Is BornCIE+
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…
Palestine Post Prints First EditionCIE+
December 1, 1932 The Palestine Post, the precursor of The Jerusalem Post, prints and distributes 1,200 copies of its first, eight-page edition. Founded by Gershon Agron, a Ukrainian-born immigrant from the United States, The Palestine…
Author Aharon Appelfeld Is BornCIE+
Aharon Appelfeld, an Israeli author, professor, and Holocaust survivor, is born near Czernowitz, Ukraine (then part of Romania).
