A story collection
Creators
Through poetry, literature, art, and cinema, they gave Israeli culture language, color, and voice, and coined expressions that remain with us to this day. Read their stories here.
Otte Wallish
The man who designed the Declaration of Independence, the first coins and stamps of the state, without you even knowing who he was. Meet the brilliant designer who gave young Israel its visual identity and remained in the shadows.
Uri Avnery
A fighter in Samson's Foxes who became the terror of the Israeli establishment, a tireless advocate of peace, and a symbol of combative journalism. The story of "the regime's number-one enemy," who refused to be silent even when attempts were made on his life.
Abie Nathan
The pilot who dared to fly alone to Egypt for peace, and sold all his possessions to save people starving around the globe. The Voice of Peace fell silent, leaving behind the legacy of a true Don Quixote who sacrificed everything for humanity.
Elisheva Bihovsky
The non-Jewish poet who bound her fate and soul to the Jewish people and to the poet Rachel, and paid for that choice with painful loneliness and dire poverty.
Alexander Penn
The bohemian who burned through Tel Aviv nights with a shot of vodka, fervent communist ideology, and tempestuous affairs. How did the Soviet rebel become one of the greatest Hebrew poets of the homeland, whose songs we all still sing today?
Amnon Shamosh
How do you connect an ancient treasure mystery surrounding the Aleppo Codex to an unforgettable novel that moved an entire country? The writer born in Aleppo wove his life story into the beating heart of Israeli culture.
Ephraim Kishon
The Holocaust survivor who arrived in Israel without a word of Hebrew and taught an entire country how to laugh at itself. The phenomenon who turned Israeli bureaucracy into brilliant satire that conquered stages around the world.
Erich Mendelsohn
The legendary architect who fled the Nazis, leaving behind the largest architectural practice in Europe. The genius who brought modernism to Palestine and designed some of the most magnificent buildings in the Middle East.
Boris Schatz
The man who came from the Bulgarian tsar's court to create a Hebrew culture from scratch, and fought abject poverty to establish "Bezalel." Dive into the story of a tenacious prophet of art who saw Jerusalem's sands as the creative capital of the East.
Baruch Katinka
The daring engineer who oversaw the construction of the Hejaz Railway in the heart of the desert under Ottoman rule. The adventures of the Iron Man and the visionary who laid the transportation foundations of a rising Land of Israel.
Deborah Omer
She brought Herzl, Ben-Gurion, and Sarah Aaronsohn into the hearts of children, yet carried a painful family secret within her. The fascinating story behind the national author who taught generations how to immerse themselves in the pages of history.
Herman Kallenbach
The wealthy Jewish architect who gave up a life of comfort in South Africa and became Mahatma Gandhi's closest friend and financial supporter. The man who lived in a commune devoted to nonviolence and eventually found his final resting place in the soil of Kibbutz Degania.
Jacqueline Kahanoff
The beautiful, bold intellectual from Cairo who redefined Israeli identity. As a standard-bearer for Mediterraneanism, she fought social injustice and broke new ground in thought.
Zelda
The mysterious ultra-Orthodox woman from Jerusalem who turned the world of Israeli poetry upside down with her enchanting candor. How did her quiet, profound poems become enduring classics and the tangible symbol of Holocaust Remembrance Day?
Hemda Ben-Yehuda
The woman behind the reviver of the Hebrew language, she was a brilliant writer and the first Hebrew fashion journalist. With wit and grace, she coined new words and led a genuine cultural revolution.
Hanna Maron
Theater's Guinness World Record-holder overcame a devastating terrorist attack and returned to light up the stage. Eight decades of creative work and a hundred roles made her the undisputed queen of Hebrew acting.
Yigal Mossinson
A Palmach fighter, a man of secrets, and a brilliant inventor who drew on the worlds of espionage to create the legendary Hasamba. The creator who stirred generations of imaginations with a single secret society in the Electric Cave.
Yehuda Antebi
The educational leader who kindled a fire of knowledge in his students' eyes and shaped generations of people of action and intellect. The story of the teachers' teacher who turned educational management into an art and a supreme national mission.
Yehoshua Yellin
The daring young Jerusalemite who broke beyond the Old City walls, bought land in Motza, and established a pioneering farm there. The man who fought for the dignity of the Hebrew language and paved the way for the daring move beyond the walls.
Yoel Moshe Salomon
The learned scholar who refused to stay behind Jerusalem's walls and went to see whether birds sang above the Yarkon marshes. The entrepreneur, printer, and visionary who dared to buy the lands of Umm Labes and lay the foundation for Petah Tikva.
Yohanan Ratner
The architect who designed the National Institutions building and was a brilliant officer and a candidate for chief of staff, and the poet Rachel’s secret and adored lover.
Yona Wallach
An uninhibited creative force who moved between total madness and rare poetic genius, shaking Hebrew culture to its core. The story of a wild aristocrat who crossed every conceivable boundary and remained a mesmerizing enigma until her final day.
Yonatan Ratosh
The brilliant poet who sought to sever the bonds of exile, erase the concept of "Jewishness," and recreate the Hebrew nation. The leader of the Canaanite movement, whose books and poetry sparked an intellectual storm that refuses to die down.
Joseph Haim Brenner
Stormy, tormented, unfiltered, and unwilling to ingratiate himself - the writer who tore away the masks of Zionist society at the height of its innocence. Meet the singular creator whose turbulent life was cut short in a brutal massacre that shook the entire Jewish community in the Land of Israel.
Leah Goldberg
She called herself "not a beautiful woman" and suffered through unrequited, unfulfilled loves, yet transformed that tormenting loneliness into the heights of Hebrew poetry.
Marcel Janco
The boy who rebelled against the conventions of world art, founded the "Dada" movement in Zurich, and built himself a home on the Carmel coast. How did one of the pioneers of modern art turn the ruins of Ein Hod into a thriving artists' village?
Moshe Smilansky
The man of the soil from Rehovot, who held the plow handle in one hand and the writer’s pen in the other. The author who left us The Family of the Soil and spent his life fighting for good neighborly relations, justice, and Jewish labor.
Nechama Pukhachevsky
The woman who rebelled against the conventions of the colony, fought for equal rights for women, and wrote daring Hebrew literature. The first Eretz-Israeli woman writer refused to remain on the margins of history and paved the way for all women.
Netiva Ben-Yehuda
The clear-voiced fighter who brought the language of the Palmach into the heart of Israeli culture. With no barriers and no filters, she fought for the country's independence and for the spoken language.
Selma Lagerlöf
The renowned Swedish author of The Wonderful Adventures of Nils, whose journeys and special connections with the Land of Israel deeply influenced her.
Tzvi Yanai
The boy with no formal education who emerged from poverty and war to become the country's intellectual authority. The man who unlocked the secrets of science and thought and brought them into every home in Israel with a singular talent.
Konrad Schick
From a humble cuckoo-clock maker in Germany to a leading architect and archaeologist who transformed the appearance of Jerusalem beyond its walls.
Kariel Gardosh (Dosh)
From an almost-anonymous Holocaust survivor to the creator of "Srulik," the boy in the iconic Israeli tembel hat who became a symbol of our shared identity. The cartoonist who fearlessly lashed out at Israel's leadership and drew reality with a bitter, incisive smile.
Rabbi Shalom Shabazi
For centuries, the songs and words of a humble tailor from Yemen have stirred thousands of hearts with longing for Zion. The greatest poet of Yemenite Jewry became a legend in his own lifetime, and his songs have accompanied us to this day.
Rachel the Poet
She arrived in the country as a romantic tourist on her way to Paris, but fell desperately in love with it and became a pioneer who chose words and fields, and went on to become a poet and a national myth.
S.Y. Agnon
Long before he became a Nobel laureate whose name is emblazoned on every street corner, his heart was broken by a secret, unfulfilled love for a daughter of the wealthy Shlush family.
Shota Rustaveli
Georgia's national poet, who admired Queen Tamar and found refuge and his final resting place at the Monastery of the Cross in Jerusalem.
Tamar Bornstein-Lazar
The woman who brought a mischievous monkey from Petah Tikva to life and sent him off on adventures around the world. Israel's most prolific writer, she made Kofiko and Chipopo childhood friends to millions of Israelis.
Tirza Atar
Alterman's daughter, who carried the weight of a great creative legacy on her shoulders and wrote more than 500 songs that became engraved in our souls. A life of beauty, rare musical talent, and quiet tragedy that ended in a painful fall from a balcony.