Ezra Fleischer facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ezra Fleischer
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | 7 August 1928 |
| Died | 25 July 2006 (aged 77) |
| Nationality | Israeli |
Ezra Fleischer (born August 7, 1928 – died July 25, 2006) was a talented poet and a philologist from Romania and Israel. A philologist is someone who studies language in old texts, especially literature. He was known for his work with the Hebrew language.
Life and Work
Ezra Fleischer was born in 1928 in a city called Timișoara in western Romania. He went to a Jewish school that his father, Judah Loeb Fleischer, had started in 1918.
After World War II, Ezra was part of a youth group called Bnei Akiva in Romania. He was put in prison because of his activities supporting the idea of a Jewish homeland, which is called Zionist activities. While he was in prison, he wrote a Hebrew poem called “Massa Gog.” In this poem, he predicted that Communism would eventually fall.
The poem was secretly taken out of Romania and published in Israel. It was printed under a pen name, which means a fake name, and became quite famous. After this, he wrote more poetry books in Romania, all using a pen name.
In 1960, Ezra Fleischer moved to Israel. There, he began to study old Hebrew writings from the Middle Ages. He earned a special degree called a doctorate from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He also taught at this university until 1997.
He was also in charge of the Geniza Research Institute for Hebrew Poetry. This institute studies very old Jewish texts found in a place called the Cairo Geniza. His student, Shulamit Elizur, later took over his position.
Ezra Fleischer wrote many books and articles, mostly about old Hebrew poetry and prayers. His work covered Jewish life from many different places and times, like Spain, Amsterdam, Syria, and Cairo. He also wrote a lot about how Judaism interacted with Islam and Christianity throughout history.
He studied how ancient Jewish writers influenced later works. For example, he looked at how ideas from Saadia Gaon, a very important Jewish leader from long ago, appeared in poems written in Spain. He showed how some Spanish poems used philosophical ideas and had special structures, like alternating rhyme schemes.
Awards and Recognition
Ezra Fleischer received several important awards for his work:
- In 1959, he won the Israel Prize for literature. This was mainly for his famous poem “Massa Gog.”
- In 1971, he received the Herzl Award for literature.
- In 1986, he was given the Bialik Prize for Jewish thought.
- In 1992, he was awarded the Rothschild Prize for Jewish studies.
See also
- List of Israel Prize recipients
- List of Bialik Prize recipients
 | Misty Copeland |
 | Raven Wilkinson |
 | Debra Austin |
 | Aesha Ash |
