Abraham Shlonsky
| Avraham Shlonsky | |
|---|---|
Avraham Shlonsky in 1952
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| Born |
March 6, 1900 Kryukovo (Poltava Oblast), Russian Empire (today in Ukraine) |
| Died | May 18, 1973 (aged 73) Tel Aviv |
| Occupation | poet, writer, playwright, translator, educator |
| Nationality | Israeli (since 1948) |
| Ethnicity | Jewish (Ashkenazi) |
| Literary movement | Established the Yakhdav group (Hebrew symbolism) |
| Spouse | Lucia Laykin, Mira Horvitz |
Avraham Shlonsky (March 6, 1900 – May 18, 1973; Hebrew: אברהם שלונסקי; Russian: Авраам Шлёнский) was a significant and dynamic Israeli poet and editor born in the Russian Empire.
He was influential in the development of modern Hebrew and its literature in Israel through his many acclaimed translations of literary classics, particularly from Russian, as well as his own original Hebrew children's classics. Known for his humor, Shlonsky earned the nickname "Lashonsky" from the wisecrackers of his generation (lashon means "tongue", i.e., "language") for his unusually clever and astute innovations in the newly evolving Hebrew language.
Avraham Shlonsky was born to a Hasidic family in Kryukovo (Poltava guberniya, now a part of Kremenchuk, Ukraine). His father, Tuvia, was a Chabad Hasid, and his mother, Tzippora, was a Russian revolutionary. When she was pregnant with her sixth child, she hid illegal posters on her body. Five-year-old Avraham informed on his mother, leading to her arrest. Four of his siblings were prodigies. His younger sister was composer and pianist Verdina Shlonsky. In 1913, when Shlonsky was 13, he was sent to Ottoman Palestine to study at the prestigious Herzliya Hebrew High School in Tel Aviv. When the First World War broke out, he returned to Ukraine.
In 1921, the whole family moved to Palestine. Tuvia Shlonsky worked as a warehouse manager and bookkeeper in the Shemen factory in Haifa. Avraham was a manual laborer, paving roads and working in construction along with other members of the Third Aliyah. He joined Gdud Ha'avoda and helped to establish Kibbutz Ein Harod in the Jezreel Valley. He married Lucia but conducted a secret affair with Mira Horowitz, the wife of a friend and colleague. She had a child with him in 1936.
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