God Has Pity on Kindergarten Children

Yehuda Amichai

1955

God takes pity on kindergarten children,
Less on schoolchildren.
On grownups, He won't take pity anymore.
He leaves them alone.
Sometime they have to crawl on all fours
In the blazing sand,
To get to the first aid station
Dripping blood.
Maybe He will take pity and cast His shadow
On those who truly love
As a tree on someone sleeping on the bench
On a…
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1945–1973

Israeli art and literature reflected the emergence of a distinctive indigenous culture and moved from collectivist Zionist narratives toward individualism.

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1945–1973

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Early Israeli statehood balanced collectivist Zionist ideals with growing individualism and saw the emergence of a vibrant but conflicted national culture.

Creator Bio

Yehuda Amichai

1924–2000
Born Ludwig Pfeuffer in Germany, Yehuda Amichai was a poet, author, translator, and playwright. His family left Germany when he was eleven and settled in Jerusalem. During World War II, Amichai served with the British army; he also fought in Israel’s War of Independence. Amichai wrote poetry, prose fiction, children’s books, translations, and plays, often playing everyday language against that of the Hebrew Bible and Jewish liturgy. Love and war were central themes of his writing. Amichai received the Israel Prize in 1982.

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