Bialik

Hayim Nachman Bialik surely provides the soulful expression to the political and idealogical zionism of Ben-Gurion and Jabotinsky. Israel's "National Poet" is so-called simply because many of his poems were nationalistic, reflecting the love of the Land of Israel and the world-view of the Jewish pioneering generations. Before visiting Bialik's House on Bialik Street (named during his lifetime apparently, I checked this time) I knew little about the man except being told that he wrote very metaphorical, sometimes depressing poetry in very sophisticated hebrew, which I knew would be impossible for me to understand. It just so happens that poetry was just one of the many string to the bow of this literary and cultural power-house.

Born in the Ukraine in 1873, Bialik went to live with his grandparents after his father died when he was very young, and had a traditional orthodox Jewish upbringing. His love of literature thus began in a religious Jewish setting, in which he initially planned to remain by studing at a famous Talmudic Academy in Lithuania, but his interest in European literature and attraction to the Jewish Enlightenment at that time, resulted in his move to Odessa when he was 18, then the center of modern Jewish culture. There he studied German and Russian literature and met his mentor Ahad Ha'am, who was a great influence on his zionist outlook. Bialik's reputation grew with the publication of his poems, which had a growing impact in zionistic circles, especially after the Kishinev pogrom, by which he was deeply affected.

Poetry aside, Bialik set up a publishing house in Odessa, he translated many literary masterpieces into Hebrew such as Shakespear's Julius Caesar and Cervantes' Don Quixote and he compiled a number of volumes of Jewish literary works. Eventually in 1924, after a two year stay in Berlin he arrived with his family to Tel-Aviv and moved into the house on Bialik street which he helped to design.

Bialik's house is well worth a visit just to see a stunning example of an eclectic style Tel-Avivan building, renovated to its original form. Bialik's reputation preceded him so, that he assumed more a position of mentor, teacher and advisor during his time in Tel-Aviv, with his "open-house" policy attracting many to seek his council on numerous subjects. Aside from his already mentioned literary talents, Bialik also edited other authors' works and became a children's author himself, delving into his difficult childhood for inspiration.

One of Bialik's greatest contributions to Israel is as a Patron of the Arts, playing a significant part in the establishment of the Israeli Opera and the Habama National Theatre and collaborating with and establishing connections between many Israeli writers and artists of the time. For these, he can be considered one of the fathers of Israeli culture.

In the end, I didn't have to try and read a single line of Bialik's poems, which was unexpected, but is probably just as well at this stage. What i did discover, however, is a larger than life character, whose contribution to Israeli literature and art is unsurpassed.