Yitzhak Lamdan

Yitzhak Lamdan (Hebrew: יצחק למדן; ‎ 7 November 1899 – 17 November 1954) was an Israeli Hebrew-language poet, translator, editor and columnist.

Biography

Itzi-Yehuda Lubes or Lobes (later Yitzhak Lamdan) was born in the Ukraine (then part of the Russian Empire) in 1899. He immigrated to Mandatory Palestine in 1920, during the Third Aliyah.

In 1927, he published a Hebrew epic poem called "Masada: A Historical Epic"[1] about the Jewish struggle for survival in a world full of enemies, in which Masada, as a symbol for the Land of Israel and the Zionist enterprise, was seen as a refuge, but also as a potential ultimate trap; the poem was hugely influential, but the latter aspect was left out in its mainstream Zionist reception and interpretation.[2] According to literary scholar and cultural historian David G. Roskies, Lamdan's poem even inspired the uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto.[3]

Awards and recognition

• In 1955, Lamdan was awarded the Israel Prize, for literature.[4]
• Brenner Prize

From 1954 until 1983, the Ramat Gan Municipality, in conjunction with the Hebrew Writers Association in Israel, awarded the annual Lamdan Prize in his memory, for literary works for children and youth.

References

1. "Masada", partial English translation
2. Nachman Ben-Yehuda (1995). Masada Myth: Collective Memory and Mythmaking in Israel. Madison, WI, USA: University of Wisconsin Press. p. 222-223. ISBN 978-0-299-14834-8. Retrieved 9 December 2015. ... the manner in which secular Zionists utilized the poem, that is, as a major element for experiencing the Masada mythical narrative, deviated―very clearly―from Lamdan's original intent. Lamdan's ambivalence simply disappears. His genuine concern that Eretz Israel may become a trap (and not a refuge) for Jews (that is, a second Masada) was almost completely eliminated in favor of what was presented as a proud, heroic national interpretation.
3. Jewish Virtual Library: Masada
4. "Israel Prize recipients in 1955 (in Hebrew)". cms.education.gov.il (Israel Prize official website). Archived from the original on March 4, 2010.CS1 maint: unfit url (link)

See also

• List of Israel Prize recipients