Auction 44
Lot 084:
Zionist poems ranging from kitvei kodesh until contemporary pieces. Includes selections from Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Lamentations, and Psalms, and then prayers and piyyutim from the Rishonim like Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi and the Rashbag, ibn Ezra, and more, and on the other hand poems from Bialik and Chernichovsky, including HaTikva and Mishmar HaYarden by Naftali Herz Imber. Published “for the 4th Zionist Congress in London”, printed in 1900 (it was the largest Zionist Congress to take place until then, August 1900). No binding or title page, pages detached, tears at the edges, brittle paper, overall fair condition. The title page has a dedication from the editor: “for my great friend Yosef Weinstein …. From Yaakov Rimon”. Underneath he wrote warm words of farewell. Yaakov Rimon (1903-1973) was a Dati Leumi Hebrew poet and author. He was born to a Chassidic family in Bieżuń (Poland). His father, Ephraim Eleizer Granat, was a rabbi and author. His eldest brother, the poet Yosef Zvi Rimon, moved to Israel first, and Yaakov came with his parents and other siblings in 1909. He spent the rest of his life living in the Montefiore neighborhood of Tel Aviv (his father was a rabbi in the Neve Shalom neighborhood). In his youth he was active in the Torah v’Avoda movements as a student of Rav Kook. He was one of the first members of the HaPoel HaMizrahi movement. He was a leader of those opposing entry into the General Histadrut. As a result he also distanced himself from the Poel Mizrahi starting in 1935, and together with Meir Shimon Gashori and Yehiel Dunkelrot he took part in the attempt to establish the “HaPoel HaMizrahi HaMekori” movement. He wrote and edited dozens of books, including literature, poetry, and children’s literature. At age 40 he became blind, but he continued his prolific work including many children’s poems in the newspaper “HaTzofeh for Children.” His poem “Nerot Shabbat” was studied at many schools and gans, and became a common kabbalat shabbat song. In the 1950s and 60s he was active, alongside other literary figures and academics, in the secret society “Achim Ne’emanim”, which had a Dati Leumi outlook. He worked for many years in the Department for Social Welfare in the Tel Aviv municipality. As a result of his experiences he wrote the book “Children in Poverty: From the Diary of a Social Worker”. In 2006 there was renewed interest in his poetry, after a booklet was released with the best of his works, published by the Kibbutz HaMeuchad.
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