Janice Rebibo ( he, ג'ניס רביבו; née Silverman; January 31, 1950 – March 11, 2015) was an American-born

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

who began writing in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

in the mid-1980s.

Biography

Janice Silverman Rebibo was born in Boston, Massachusetts and studied at Boston Hebrew College. She later immigrated to Israel. Rebibo died of cancer, aged 65. She is survived by her father, Henry Silverman, and by her two children.

Literary career

Rebibo began writing in Hebrew while studying Hebrew language and literature at Hebrew College. Dozens of her poems appeared in Israel's major newspapers and journals. An

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

of Israeli writers of English included several of her poems and the journal,

Iton 77 ''Iton 77'' ( he, עיתון 77) is an Israeli monthly literature and culture magazine published in Israel. History and profile ''Iton 77'' was established by the poet and editor Jacob Besser in 1977. The magazine also owns a small publishing ...

, featured her Hebrew poem, ''Etzb'a Elohim'' (''God's finger''). Janice Silverman Rebibo's first collection of poetry in English, ''My Beautiful Ballooning Heart'', was published in July, 2013. ''How Many Edens'', Rebibo's most recent poetry chapbook, was published in April 2014 Using

allusion Allusion is a figure of speech, in which an object or circumstance from unrelated context is referred to covertly or indirectly. It is left to the audience to make the direct connection. Where the connection is directly and explicitly stated (as ...

humor Humour (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) or humor (American English) is the tendency of experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humorism, humoral medicine of the ancient Gre ...

and

eroticism Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, sculp ...

, much of Rebibo's poetry shows how relationships are shaped by language, culture, religion, and politics. Her first Hebrew poems appeared in 1984 in the literary supplement of the Hebrew language newspaper ''

Davar ''Davar'' ( he, דבר, lit. ''Word'') was a Hebrew-language daily newspaper published in the British Mandate of Palestine and Israel between 1925 and May 1996. It was relaunched in 2016, under the name ''Davar Rishon'' as an online outlet by th ...

'' on the recommendation of Israeli poet

Haim Gouri Haim Gouri ( he, חיים גורי; Gurfinkel; 9 October 1923 – 31 January 2018) was an Israeli poet, novelist, journalist, and documentary filmmaker. Widely regarded as one of the country's greatest poets, he was awarded the Israel Prize ...

. Her poems and short stories appeared frequently in Israel's literary pages and journals and her four books of Hebrew poetry have been published. ''Zara in Zion: Collected Poems 1984-2006'' by Janice Rebibo, published in 2007, includes Hebrew poetry from her three earlier books and new work previously published in Israel's literary journals, as well as a chapter entitled ''Zion by Itself'' containing poems Rebibo has written in English. Rebibo translated Hebrew poetry into English, notably for poet

Natan Yonatan Nathan Yonathan ( he, נָתָן יֹונָתָן; 20 September 1923 – 12 March 2004) was an Israeli poet. His poems have been translated from Hebrew and published in more than a dozen languages, among them: Arabic, Bulgarian, Chinese, Dutch ...

. Her poems have been set to music and recorded. ''Hazman Ozel (time is running out)'', music by Gidi Koren, was released in 2009 by NMC on a live performance DVD by ''The Brothers and The Sisters''. She collaborated with composers on texts and

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

s. ''Here Comes Messiah!'', a

monodrama A monodrama is a theatrical or operatic piece played by a single actor or singer, usually portraying one character. In opera In opera, a monodrama was originally a melodrama with one role such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau's ''Pygmalion'', which wa ...

for

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

and

chamber orchestra Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numbe ...

Matti Kovler Matti may refer to: * Matti (given name), people with the given name * Matti (surname), people with the surname * Matti, Karnataka, a village in India * ''Matti: Hell Is for Heroes'', a 2006 film about Matti Nykänen See also

* Masa (disamb ...

, libretto by Janice Silverman Rebibo and Matti Kovler, was premiered at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

with soprano, Tehila Nini Goldstein, on May 9, 2009. Rebibo edited and translated prose for novelist

Yizhar Smilansky Yizhar Smilansky (, 27 September 1916 – 21 August 2006), known by his pen name S. Yizhar (), was an Israeli writer and politician. Widely regarded as one of the preeminent figures in Israeli literature, he was awarded the Israel Prize in 1959 ...

, Toronto filmmaker Avi Lev, Prof

Moshe Bar-Asher Moshe Bar-Asher (; born 1939, Ksar es Souk, Morocco) is an Israeli linguist and the president of the Academy of the Hebrew Language in Jerusalem. Biography Moshe Ben Harush (later Bar-Asher) was born in Ksar es Souk (modern Errachidia), Morocc ...

at the

Academy of the Hebrew Language The Academy of the Hebrew Language ( he, הָאָקָדֶמְיָה לַלָּשׁוֹן הָעִבְרִית, ''ha-akademyah la-lashon ha-ivrit'') was established by the Israeli government in 1953 as the "supreme institution for scholarship on t ...

, and others. Rebibo directed an innovative school-pairing program to promote

tolerance Tolerance or toleration is the state of tolerating, or putting up with, conditionally. Economics, business, and politics * Toleration Party, a historic political party active in Connecticut * Tolerant Systems, the former name of Veritas Software ...

, friendship, and cooperation in Israeli society and serves as SPO at a non-profit for the advancement of Hebrew language teaching and learning in North America.

Published works

The first of her four poetry collections, ''Zara'' (a stranger-woman, referring to the figure in Proverbs), was published in 1997. She later served as chief translator for

, completing ''Within the Song to Live'', his

bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...

volume of selected work, following that popular poet’s death in 2004. Yonatan, Natan. ''Within the Song to Live'', trans. Janice Silverman Rebibo and others, music CD, Gefen Jerusalem & NY, 2005; ''Zara Betzion: shirim 1984-2006'', a blend of two literary traditions, received a President of Israel Award and other prizes. Her poems have been set to music by composer, Gidi Koren. In addition to the English libretto for composer

* Masa (disamb ...

's ''The Escape of Jonah'', Rebibo also collaborated with Kovler to write the libretto for ''Here Comes Messiah!'', performed at Carnegie Hall in 2009 and at Boston's Jordan Hall in 2010.

Literary style

Rebibo's poetry has been described as having “a new strength and the kind of courage that comprises a strategic breakthrough, a stance of both audacity and humor that adds something new to the war of independence of Israel's consciousness – a revolution of language, spirit and mind”, according to critic

Menahem Ben Menahem Ben ( he, מנחם בן; October 31, 1948 – March 13, 2020) was an Israeli poet and journalist and an outspoken literary and culture critic. He was a frequent op-ed contributor and authored two weekly columns, on culture and literatur ...

. Ben, Menahem, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVNmXKsR4pI&p=F5FF168188B76053 YouTube], December 1, 2007

Awards and recognition

''Zara Betzion'' ("A Stranger in Zion") by Janice Rebibo received awards from the Office of the President of Israel and the Mifal HaPayis Cultural Committee, as well as Hebrew College's Steiner Prize in Hebrew Literature, one of several academic and literary prizes awarded to Rebibo over her many years of association with that College.

References

External links

Open Library - Hebrew books by Janice RebiboListing including translations to EnglishBook in English: My Beautiful Ballooning Heart, poems by Janice Silverman Rebibo, 2013

"Janice ג'ניס" - English and Hebrew poetry and events blog

Janice Rebibo in Ohio State University's Modern Hebrew Literature Lexicon

* ttp://www.bros-and-sis.com/janice.shtml ''Zara Betzion'' booklaunch, Tel Aviv, December 1, 2007 * ttp://www.text.org.il/index.php?book=0703115 Hebrew poems by Janice Rebibo online * ttp://www.nillydagan.com/סופ-ש-שירה-מספר-7/274-ג-ניס-רביבו More Hebrew poems by Janice Rebibo online
''My Beautiful Ballooning Heart'', Muddy River Poetry Review
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rebibo, Janice 1950 births 2015 deaths Hebrew-language poets Writers from Boston Israeli women poets Israeli poets Israeli people of American-Jewish descent American people of Israeli descent Deaths from cancer in Israel Place of death missing 20th-century poets 20th-century American women writers American women poets Israeli translators 20th-century American translators Jewish women writers American emigrants to Israel 21st-century American women