A Ruth, a Naomi, and more: Celebrating Women Israeli Artists
Leah Goldberg (1911-1970) was born in Konigsberg, East Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia) and started writing poetry in Hebrew as a schoolgirl in Kovno. After completing her Ph.D. in Semitic languages at Bonn University, Germany, she immigrated to pre-state Israel in 1935.
Goldberg was a member of the Shlonsky group of modern poets and began publishing her work in literary journals associated with them. She was a renowned poet and a successful children’s author, as well as a theater critic, translator and editor. In 1952, she established the Department of Comparative Literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and was its chairperson until her death. Goldberg published ten books of poetry, two novels, three plays, two books of essays and non-fiction, and books for children.
Her books for children such as Dira Le’haskir (A Flat for Rent), Ayeh Pluto (Where is Pluto), and Kova Ha’ksamim (The Magic Hat) are still considered the ‘musts’ of every Israeli child’s book, video, and audio cassette collection. In recent polls of all time favorites three of her children's books made the top 10 list.
Goldberg was awarded many prizes, including the Israel Prize for Literature (1970, posthumous). Her work has been published in 27 languages.
Recently, Israel's government has approved some famous personalities who will appear on a new series of shekel banknotes. After more than a year of heated debates on who are Israel's most beloved and revered poets the Bank of Israel announced who will grace the new notes. They are:
Rachel the Poetess on the 20 shekel note, Saul Tchernichovsky on the 50 shekel note, Leah Goldberg on the 100 shekel noteand Natan Alterman on the 200 shekel note.
To shop with Rachels and Leahs will be quite an experience!...
A few resources on Leah Goldberg:
A Documentary film: The Five Houses of Lea Goldberg by Director Yair Qedar
She died 41 years ago, but even today, Leah Goldberg is still an enigmatic figure - she is Israel's most beloved poet, a powerful woman, who lived with her mother and never married, a woman who invented herself from the ashes of WWW1 though her magical poetry. The film is a cinematic fantasy in five acts, using animation, after affects, archives, still photos, original music and interviews that celebrate together the fascinating story of L. Goldberg.
Visual Arts: Female artists from the religious community
Portrait of the artist as a headscarf-wearing woman
Article By Tamar Rotem
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