Israel is set to release a new line of currency, each sporting the visage of a beloved Israeli writer. The new shekel bills will bear the images of Nathan Alterman, Rachel Bluwstein, Shaul Tchernichovsky and Leah Goldberg. The first of these special bills will begin circulation later this year. "They are beautiful and touch our soul," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday. Bibi also spoke about some criticism the bills have faced, regarding the seclusion of any Sephardic writers. "I agree with those …More

Rachel Bluwstein went down in history as the first noted female poet of British Mandate Palestine, emerging as a renowned poetess in a genre dominated at the time by men. Born September 20, 1890, in Imperial Russia, Bluwstein was the granddaughter of the rabbi of Kiev’s Jewish community. She moved to Ukraine as a child with her family, attending Jewish day school, then moved to a secular high school, where she first took up poetry. Bluwstein was en route to Italy for a holiday at the age of 19, making a …More

The “Seeking Kin” column aims to help reunite long-lost relatives and friends. “The Cruel Winter” How awful is winter, how awful is frost To far-off lands the sparrow has fled The animals have hidden, too, in the caves Beneath the hills and in the forest valleys The trees wrap themselves in pure, white cover, Every branch full of snow dips low And in the streets, adults and children run Their noses colored red Suddenly, a boy runs, crying bitterly Stating in a whisper that his …More

When you think of poetry slams, you don’t generally think “Orthodox Judaism.” But Zvia Margaliot is out to change that. Margaliot, an Orthodox wife and mother from Jerusalem, won the Levontin 7 Club’s Poetry Slam last week in Tel Aviv. And she did it without the anger and preachy self-righteousness that occasionally accompanies many spoken-word artists. Weaving humor and charm, Margaliot performed two original selections: "Charity Will Save From Death" (about her complex relationship with …More

The LABA Festival is an annual tradition in Manhattan, bringing the work of Jewish artists into the mainstream. The LABA initiative is close to the heart of New York’s 14th Street Y, where the House of Study project fosters a different panel of select fellows each year. At the end of a 12-month period, the fellows present their work to the community, in a colorful, innovative festival of art. This year’s LABA event, taking place over the weekend, centers around the theme “Blueprint,” with …More

A group of disabled Uruguayan Jews made a trek to Israel, fulfilling a life-long dream, [Israel Hayom] while the World Jewish Congress president thanked the Italian prime minister for being a friend to the Jews. [World Jewish Congress] Elsewhere, a Tablet writer explores the trend of violence and racism in Israeli soccer, [Tablet] as the government of Canada donates $400,000 to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation. [Newswire] Meanwhile, the influence of Hebrew poetry in the early 20th century art scene is a …More