Israel Zmora Jewish literary scholar, writer, translator and publisher Date of Birth: 07.05.1899 Country: Israel

1. Early Life and Education
2. Literary Career in Mandate Palestine
3. "Mahbarot LeSifrut" and "Zmora-Bitan"
4. Translations and Literary Criticism
5. Literary Organizations
6. Other Notable Works

Early Life and Education

Israel Zmora was born in 1899 in the Bessarabian village of Pocumbauts (now Pocumbăuți, Moldova). From 1912, he lived in the town of Edinei (now Yedinet District, Moldova). He studied at a yeshiva in Odessa before living briefly in Botoșani and Bucharest.

Literary Career in Mandate Palestine

In 1925, Zmora moved to Mandate Palestine and joined a group of avant-garde Hebrew writers who collaborated with the competing modernist literary magazines, "Kvuttim" (1926-33) and "Turim" (1933-34, 1938-39).

"Mahbarot LeSifrut" and "Zmora-Bitan"

In 1940, Zmora founded the literary journal "Mahbarot LeSifrut" (Literary Notebooks), which published young writers, translations into Hebrew, and reissues of medieval Jewish поэзия and Haskalah literature. He later established the publishing house of the same name, which evolved into "Zmora-Bitan" (now known as "Zmora-Bitan-Modan"), one of Israel's leading publishers of translated, literary, and scientific works.

Translations and Literary Criticism

Zmora translated extensively into Hebrew from French and Russian, including the works of Stefan Zweig, Anton Chekhov, Paul Valéry, Nikolai Gogol, and Rainer Maria Rilke. He also wrote literary essays, which were collected in "Sifrut Al Parashat Dorot" (Literature on the Crossroads of Generations) and "Nevi'im Aharonim" (Last Prophets).

Literary Organizations

In 1971, Zmora co-founded the Association of Russian-Speaking Writers and Journalists in Israel with Lev Li'or and Yitzhak Zeytlin. In 1975, he helped establish the Federation of Writers' Unions in Israel.

Other Notable Works

Zmora compiled a collection of works by Jacob Fichman (1973), edited the complete works of Yehuda Halevi, and published a study on Haim Hazaz and Yaakov Horowitz titled "Sheyni Mesaprim" (Two Writers). His book "Women in the Bible" explored Biblical female figures through legends, poems, and stories.