Creator Bio
Yehuda Amichai
1924–2000
Born Ludwig Pfeuffer in Germany, Yehuda Amichai was a poet, author, translator, and playwright. His family left Germany when he was eleven and settled in Jerusalem. During World War II, Amichai served with the British army; he also fought in Israel’s War of Independence. Amichai wrote poetry, prose fiction, children’s books, translations, and plays, often playing everyday language against that of the Hebrew Bible and Jewish liturgy. Love and war were central themes of his writing. Amichai received the Israel Prize in 1982.
Entries in the Posen Library by This Creator
Primary Source
Love in Reverse
Early in the morning he went out to carry out the assignment which he had been given. Jerusalem seemed to be tired and her hair was unkempt. The first revellers had reached the streets. One window was…
Primary Source
God Has Pity on Kindergarten Children
God has pity on kindergarten children,
He pities school children—less.
But adults he pities not at all.
He abandons them,
And sometimes they have to crawl on all fours
In the scorching sand
To reach…
Primary Source
Jerusalem 1967
This year I traveled a long way
to view the silence of my city.
A baby calms down when you rock it, a city calms down
from the distance. I dwelled in longing. I played the hopscotch
of the four…
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Seven Laments for the War-Dead
1
Mr. Beringer, whose son
fell at the Canal that strangers dug
so ships could cross the desert,
crosses my path at Jaffa Gate.
He has grown very thin, has lost
the weight of his son.
That’s why he…
Primary Source
Tourists
So condolence visits is what they’re here for,sitting around at the Holocaust Memorial, putting on a serious faceat the Wailing Wall,laughing behind heavy curtains in hotel rooms.They get themselves…