Writer Yitzhaq Shami Is BornCIE+
August 4, 1888 Yitzhaq Shami, one of the earliest writers of modern Hebrew literature, is born as Yitzhaq Sarwi to an Arabic-speaking father and a Ladino-speaking mother in Hebron. He takes the name Shami, first…
Writer Peretz Smolenskin DiesCIE+
February 1, 1885 Russian Jewish novelist, editor and early Zionist Peretz Smolenskin dies of tuberculosis at 43 in Italy. Smolenskin was born in the Mogilev province of White Russia in 1842 and had a traditional…
Literary Pioneer Yosef Haim Brenner Is BornCIE+
September 11, 1881 Yosef Haim Brenner, the leading Israeli literary figure of the early 20th century, is born in Novi Mlini, Ukraine. He grows up receiving a Jewish education and joins the Bund, a Jewish…
Philosopher Martin Buber Is BornCIE+
Renowned philosopher Martin Buber is born in Vienna. Buber emigrates to Jerusalem in 1938.
Moshe Smilansky BornCIE+
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…
Eliezer Ben-Yehuda Is BornCIE+
January 7, 1858 Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, considered the father of the modern Hebrew language, is born Eliezer Yitzchak Perelman in the Lithuanian village of Luzhky. Expected to become a rabbi, Ben-Yehuda becomes interested in the secular…
Michah Joseph Berdichevski Is Born in UkraineCIE+
Scholar and writer Michah Joseph Berdichevski is best known for his Hebrew writings, which included his lengthy debate with Ahad Ha’am about the nature of Hebrew literature, as well as his extensive recording of Jewish folklore.
Chaim Nahman Bialik Is Born in UkraineCIE+
Chaim Nahman Bialik, famed Zionist poet, is born in the village of Radi, near Zhitomir in Volhynia (Northwest Ukraine).
