Modern Hebrew literature

This revolution originated in the world of tradition.

Shai Secunda
Jan. 25 2023 12:01AM

The novelist and rabbi Haim Sabato infuses tradition into fiction as well as any of the Yiddish greats. The difference? His work is unencumbered by modern angst.

Dec. 5 2022 12:01AM

The Library of Congress’s Hebraic Section has digitized an array of rare children’s books.

Ann Brener
March 10 2022 12:01AM

In 1897, the great Zionist writer Aḥad Ha’am argued that Jewish culture, not politics, was the best avenue to bring about a new Jewish state. This week’s podcast revisits his important ideas.

Aug. 20 2021 12:01AM

The two giants of Jewish literature come together for a wide-ranging discussion centered around his new book on the seminal Hebrew writers of modernity.

Sept. 10 2020 12:35AM

In his fiction, and especially in the novel Only Yesterday, S.Y. Agnon casts an ironic, unfooled eye on the inner lives of his fellow Jews and their lopsided bargains with modernity.

Dec. 3 2018 12:01AM

After many decades, not yet fluent.

May 23 2017 12:01AM

A Tom Thumb rabbi and a blood libel.

S.Y. Agnon
April 14 2017 12:01AM

Fish that turn into frogs, a dead count, and halakhic humor.

A.B. Yehoshua, Ariel Hirschfeld, Alan Mintz and Jeffrey Saks
July 29 2016 12:01AM

None of the great Jewish arguments that raged in the 19th century—tradition versus modernity, secularism versus religion, nationalism versus universalism—is over with.

May 31 2016 12:01AM

It took tremendous toil to produce the cultural rebirth of the Hebrew language. Let us give thanks to the toilers—and to their master translator.

May 23 2016 12:01AM

For millions of Israelis (and others) who today write and speak the language with ease, Hebrew’s grand literary legacy is a book still waiting to be opened.

May 16 2016 12:01AM

Go west, young Hebraist.

Robert Alter
Jan. 27 2016 12:01AM