Explaining my choice

Yehuda Amichai

Yehuda Amichai (the last name means, my people are alive) is very much like me.

My family, like his, escaped tormented Europe and settled in Jerusalem.

Like him, I grew up in Jerusalem and got to see the city broken and united.

We share, in our history, an endless stream of wars, none of which brought a resolution, or peace.

Of course the similarity between us is shared by many in Israel, and his poems, are a reflection of life in a country that is still searching, still asking, still in many ways unsettled.

I chose to present him for few other reasons:

-          Most of his poems were translated into English. This made it easier to pick some for this presentation, and also made me believe that this is a sign that others, more widely read, thought his poems were worthy, and able to reach a wide crowd.

-          Many of his poems relate to issues of war and peace, but mostly in an apolitical way representing a point of view that is closer to my heart.

-          Many of his poems represent his love to Jerusalem, one of the biggest issues in the debate for peace, I can relate to that.

-          His Hebrew is a mixture of current and old. He is known as one of the first poets to use colloquial Hebrew in his poems, at the same time, as someone that grew up in a religious family the language of the bible, and prayer, as he himself kept repeating, is natural to him. I can relate to that, I grew in a religious family, in a religious neighborhood, and received a religious formal education.

-          Many of his poems were set in music, and I know them as songs that were played on the radio. His poems were, and still are often read in official holidays, and memorial days. I believe that his popularity made him more reachable but still genuine. 

And to finish with some factual information:

During his lifetime Amichai was recognized around the world with various awards and honorary doctorates. In 1957 he was awarded the Shlonsky Prize, in 1969 the Brenner Prize, the Israel Prize followed in 1982, and in 1996 he won the Norwegian Bjornson Award. He was poet in residence at NYU in 1987. The complete archive of his diaries, letters and unpublished works was sold to the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library of Yale University. Yehuda Amichai visited the Poetry International Festival on numerous occasions, most recently in 1995.

Amichai has published eleven volumes of poetry in Hebrew, two novels, and a book of short stories. His work has been translated into thirty-seven languages. His collections of poetry available in English include Open Closed Open (Harcourt Brace, 2000); The Selected Poetry of Yehuda Amichai: Newly Revised and Expanded Edition (1996); A Life of Poetry, 1948-1994 (1995); Even a Fist Was Once an Open Palm with Fingers (1989); Poems of Jerusalem (1988); The Great Tranquility: Questions and Answers (1983); Love Poems (1981); Time (1979); Amen (1977); Songs of Jerusalem and Myself (1973); and Poems (1969). In 1982, Amichai received the Israel Prize for Poetry and he became a foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1986. He lived in Jerusalem until his death on September 25, 2000.