In the Army

A poet, translator, and author of children’s books, Ella Amitan was born in Yurev, Russia (now Tartu, Estonia) and immigrated to Palestine in 1925, where she studied at the Hebrew University. She translated works by Goethe, Balzac, Heine, and Hugo into Hebrew. Amitan served in the British army during World War II and was a pioneer in the revival of Hebrew as a modern language with its own literature. Her Yareaḥ pikeaḥ (1938) was one of the first Hebrew books composed for children. Amitan’s song “Bi-medinat hagamadim” is sung by kindergarten children in Israel to this day.