Zrubavel Gilad

Zrubavel Gilad ( he, זרובבל גלעד, also ; 9 December 1912 – 12 August 1988) was a Hebrew poet, editor and translator.

Biography

Gilad was born in 1912 in Bender, Bessarabia (then part of the Russian Empire and now in Moldova), and his family (Bessarabian Jews) fled to Odessa during World War I. After the Russian Revolution, they moved to Mandate Palestine. In 1924, they settled in Ein Harod, where he lived until his death in 1988. He was one of the first children in the kibbutz.

Gilad began to publish stories in 1929 and poetry in 1931. He published articles in most newspapers and magazines in Israel.

He was active in getting young members of the cooperative agricultural communities of the Jezreel Valley to participate in HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed youth movement activities. He was Secretary of the Central Committee of the movement between 1933 and 1935. Many of his poems were published in the movement's newspaper ''Bamaale'' ( he, בַּמַּעֲלֶה).

In November 1937, he was sent to Poland to work with the pioneering movement Hehalutz, returning home in 1939.

Gilad was one of the first members of the Palmach, and one of its poets. He wrote the Palmah Anthem in 1941. In 1946, he participated in the Night of the Bridges at the Sheik Hussein Bridge, and was arrested two weeks later in the Black Shabbat, spending some time in British jails.

Between 1950 and 1953, he worked on the ''Palmach Book'', an anthology he edited with Matti Megged. It is considered one of the most important anthologies of the time.

He was the editor of the HaKibbutz HaMeuhad magazine ''Mebefnim''( he, מבפנים) for many years and a senior editor in the movement's publishing house.

In his later years, after the death of his first wife, he married the Israeli literary scholar and a translator Dorothea Krook-Gilead, who translated many of his poems into English.

In 1990, his autobiography ''Maayan Gideon'' ("Gideon's Spring") was published. Individual poems he wrote have been published in Danish, French, German, Hungarian, Russian, Serbo-Croatian and Spanish.

Awards

Gilad won many awards for his literary achievements. These include the following:
* awarded by the Municipality of Holon (1961)
*Prime Minister's Prize for Hebrew Literary Works (1976)
* Bialik Prize for Literature (1981)

Books published in Hebrew

*Youth (poetry), Ba-Maale, 1936 eurim*Springs (poetry), Davar, 1939 l Ha-ayin*The Gilboa Sights (poetry), Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1943 ar'ot Gilboa*The Magic Spike (poetry), Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1949 hibolet Pelayim*The Palmach, Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1950 irkei Palmah*Tunes in the Storm (poetry), Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1946 igunim Ba'Sa'ar*The Beehive and the Lady Queen (children), Am Oved, 1946 a'ase Be-Kaveret U-Ba-Malkah ha-Gveret*Secret Shield, The Jewish Agency, 1948 agen Ba-Seter*A Legacy of Heroism, Kiriat Sefer, 1948 oreshet Gevurah*Pines in Bloom (poetry), Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1950 erihat Oranim*The Palmach Book, Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1953 efer Ha-Palmah*Conversation at the Beach (stories), Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1954 ihah Al Ha-Hof*The Green River (poetry), Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1955 ahar Yarok*The Small Rabbit (children), Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1957 a'aseh Be-Arnav Katan*A Drop of Dew (children), Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1958 gel Tal*Shining Dust (poetry), Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1960 fer Noher*The Upper Sea (poetry), Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1966 am Shel Ma'ala*Returning Light (poetry), Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1970 r Hozer*Green Tunes (poetry), Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1972 emirot Yerukot*In the Valley of Shiloh (poetry), Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1974 e-Emek Shilo*Coals of Juniper (poetry), Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1980 ehalei Retamim*The Well (poetry), Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1983 a-Be'er*The Mountain Light (poetry), Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1986 r Ha-Har*The Shade of the Fig Tree (poetry), Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1988 e-Tzel Ha-Te'enah

Books in translation

*Selected Poems (English) Tel Aviv, Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1983

See also

*Hebrew literature
*List of Bialik Prize recipients

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilad, Zrubavel
1912 births
1988 deaths
Moldovan Jews
Jews in Mandatory Palestine
20th-century Israeli Jews
Jewish poets
20th-century poets
People from Bender, Moldova
Palmach members
Soviet emigrants to Mandatory Palestine