Yitsḥak Alterman

Born in Uvarovitsh, near Gomel, in the Russian Empire (today Uvaravičy, Belarus), Yitsḥak Alterman received a traditional education but soon embraced Hebraist and Zionist ideas. Moving to Warsaw and studying at Aharon Lubishetski’s modern Hebrew school, he developed a passion for Hebrew educational pedagogy. In 1910, Alterman started a program in Warsaw with his wife to train Hebrew-language kindergarten teachers. In 1917, he took part in the founding of Tarbut, an ambitious effort by Russia’s Hebraist community to bring all Hebraist cultural and educational efforts under a single organizational umbrella. Alterman played a leading role in debating and shaping the educational policy of the organization, which had nearly two hundred modern schools under its aegis. An author of Hebrew pedagogical texts, Alterman also wrote Hebrew songs and poetry for children, many of which were published in children’s journals such as Palestine’s ‘Olam katan and the Odessa Hebraist educational journal Ha-Ginah. Alterman immigrated to Tel Aviv in 1925. His son Natan Alterman became the most influential Hebrew modernist poet of the 1930s and one of Israel’s most celebrated if controversial literary figures.