Joseph Ha-Efrati

Born in Troplowitz, Silesia (now Opawica, Poland), Joseph (Yosef) Ha-Efrati (Joseph Troplowitz) was a Hebrew poet and playwright. Although his most significant play, Melukhat Sha’ul (The Kingdom of Saul; it was also translated into Yiddish), was based on biblical tales, Ha-Efrati often wrote on contemporary subjects, in the form of eulogies for important maskilim, traditional rabbis, and statesmen, as well as poems to commemorate historical events. He was influenced by other writers of the Haskalah as well as non-Jewish Enlightenment authors including Goethe, Schiller, and Rousseau. Ha-Efrati lived in Ratibor (Racibórz) and Prague.