Lea Goldberg

by

Ofra Yeglin

• LAST MODIFIED: 20 August 2024
• DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199840731-0251

Introduction

The reputation of Lea Goldberg (b. 1911–d. 1970), in produced a wide-ranging literary corpus of over one hundred books published and republished, has long preceded the prominence of the first canonical female Hebrew poet, Rachel Blowstein (b. 1890–d. 1931), and challenges the centrality and standing of Israel`s national poet, Hayim Nahman Bialik (b. 1873–d. 1934). Lea Goldberg`s earliest Hebrew poems, diary notes, stories, and translations into Hebrew were produced in Kaunas, Lithuania, where she was raised. The ninety-eight books published during her short life span (poetry [9]; novels [2]; memoir [1]; theater plays [1]; poetry, stories, and a novel for children [25]; literary criticism [15]; translations of novels and collections of stories [12]; translations of theater plays [12]; and translations of literature for children [21]), and over seven hundred essays and articles, all date from the time she left Lithuania for Mandatory Palestine in 1935, at the age of twenty-four. From then, first, in Mandatory Palestine and, then, Israel, she led the life of an exceptionally talented and productive literary figure, roaming through an extremely wide variety of literary expressions and several professions (journalist, critic, editor, translator, and a professor of literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem). One supplementary book of poetry (2019), prose (2009, 2010) and drama (2011) were published long after her death, in addition to the publication of her complete diary (2005), letters (2009, 2016), journalistic articles (2017), unpublished poems (2019), and the collected children’s poems (2023). Official recognition of Goldberg’s contribution to Israeli culture was solidified by awarding her posthumously the state’s highest honor, the Israel Prize (1970), and with the issuing of postage stamps (Israel Postal Authority, 1984, 1991, 2012) as well as a banknote with her image (2017), adorned by a flowering almond tree and female rams in reference to some of her famous poems. Lea Goldberg’s oeuvre may be understood as the very embodiment of a trend in which a large group of Central and Eastern European Jewish writers born at the dawn of the twentieth century, or a decade or two later, abandoned the languages of their birth places (including Yiddish) and adopted Hebrew to take on the task of a national revival in the Middle East. In this context, Lea Goldberg represents an exceptional case: whereas there was a general tendency for identification with Socialist Zionism and with the cultural project of modernism (as an attempt to remove the chains of tradition), we have in Lea Goldberg the case of a cosmopolitan intellectual humanist imbued with European culture who delivers in Hebrew a more personal and classical expression of the cultural luggage she had amassed during her youth in Kaunas and adolescence in Berlin and Bonn (1930–1933). Her independent expression embedded in Hebrew poetry styles structures and echoes drown from the works of Francesco Petrarch, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and Rainer Maria Rilke and her translations enriched the Hebrew reader with works written in Lithuanian, Russian, German, French, Italian, English, Greek, Latin, and Yiddish.

Biography

Lea Goldberg referred to her personal life in official form as documented in Karton-Blum and Weissman 2000, a chapter in the book of the Hebrew gymnasium in Kaunas, as explored in Yablokovsky 1962; her diary, edited and published in Aharoni and Aharoni 2005; and letters, documented and discussed in Ticotsky and Wisse 2009, Wisse 2009, and Ticotsky 2016. Her folder in the Hebrew Writers Association Archive in Tel Aviv (Gnazim) contains additional resources, such as a correspondence with her mother, Tzila Goldberg. Four major research projects contribute greatly to the study of Goldberg’s biography (Ruebner 1980, Yoffe 1994, Ticotsky 2011, Bar-Yosef 2012). A partial yet informative history, three years spent in the universities of Berlin and Bonn, serves as the center of interest of research published in Yifaat Wisse 2014. The work of a renowned Israeli psychologist, Lieblich 1995 examines Goldberg’s personality, and the work of a literary critic, Ben-Reuven 2013 challenges the poetical traces of Goldberg’s love affairs, A documentary film, Qedar 2011, is based on archival footage and interviews and offers a cinematic overview of her life and art.

• Aharoni, Rachel, and Aryeh Aharoni, eds. Yomane Lea Goldberg. Bene Beraq, Israel: Sifriat Poalim Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 2005.

  In Hebrew. Translated as: “Lea Goldberg’s diaries.” Seven notebooks of a daily diary written in Hebrew by Lea Goldberg over forty-four years, from October 1921 to July 1966 (the years 1922, 1933–1936, 1938, 1940, 1944–1948, 1960 are absent from the diary), with an extensive section of editorial key in service of references to literary and art works, places visited, and people.

• Bar-Yosef, Hamutal. Lea Goldberg. Jerusalem: Merkaz Zalman Shazar leHeker toldot haAm haYehudy, 2012.

  In Hebrew. Published as a volume of a prestigious series of fourteen monographs devoted to the life and works of prominent Jewish authors and philosophers, Bar-Yosef’s scholarship of Goldberg’s oeuvre is necessarily limited by the form and the structure of the book arranged by the order of places of residence (“In Germany and Back to Lithuania,” “In Tel Aviv,” and “In Jerusalem”). This book emphasizes the significance of environmental factors and follows an autobiographical approach to artistic materials.

• Ben-Reuven, Sara. KeEtz baAfelat ya’ar. Al ahavoteha shel Lea Goldberg. Tel Aviv: Schocken, 2013.

  In Hebrew. Translated as: “Like a tree in a dark forest: The loves of Lea Goldberg and their reflection in her poetry.” Based on forty-two letters sent by Lea Goldberg to a friend and on cycles of love poetry, the author ventures to trace more and less significant associations with twelve male acquaintances.

• Karton-Blum, Ruth, and Anat Weissman, eds. Pegishot im Meshoreret: Masot uMehkarim al yetsirata shel Lea Goldberg. Tel Aviv: Sifriat Poalim, 2000.

  In Hebrew. Translated as: “Lea Goldberg: Encounters with a poet; Essays and studies on the work of Lea Goldberg.” A good collection of articles accompanied by archival materials, including curriculum vitae submitted by Lea Goldberg to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1956).

• Lieblich, Amia. El Lea. Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1995.

  In Hebrew. Translated as: “Towards Lea.” Probing diary excerpts and literary works, this non-chronological analysis is written from the point of view of a psychologist that aims to explore a continuous split between identities and the significance of personal connections.

• Qedar, Yair, dir. Lea Goldberg baHamisha batim. Tel Aviv: HaIvrim, 2011.

  In Hebrew. Translated as: “The 5 houses of Lea Goldberg.” A cinematic documentary in five acts using animation, interviews and still photos. The segments are titled: “The House of Hebrew” (early years), “Tel Aviv 1935” (immigration to Palestine), “House of Love” (the poet Avraham Ben-Yitzhak), “In Perpetual Motion” (her work and poetic style), and “The Last House” (illness and death).

• Ruebner, Tuvia. Lea Goldberg:monografia . Tel Aviv: Sifriat Poalim Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1980.

  In Hebrew. Translated as: “Lea Goldberg: Monography.” Arranged chronologically and furnishing ample details, the book is written by Goldberg’s close friend, the poet Tuvia Ruebner, and it is the most comprehensive monograph of her life and work. The first chapter, “tseadim rishonim” (first steps: 9–29) is an overview of Goldberg’s early childhood, first literary penchants, school experiences, a meeting with H. N. Bialik, and correspondence with the poet Avraham Shlonsky.

• Ticotsky, Giddon. HaOr beShule heAnan: Hekerut mehudeshet im yetsiratah shel Lea Goldberg. Bene Beraq, Israel: Hakibbutz Hameuchad Sifriat Poalim, 2011.

  In Hebrew. Translated as: “Light along the edge of a cloud: Introduction to Lea Goldberg’s oeuvre.” Based on his abundant knowledge of Lea Goldberg, this album-type book serves as a necessary introduction to Goldberg’s works and archival materials (seventy photos, caricature, book covers, manuscripts, and drawings made by Lea Goldberg). Previously intended for those who view the documentary film, The Five Houses of Lea Goldberg, the book also stands for itself separately as a major contribution.

• Ticotsky, Giddon. “A German Island in Israel: Lea Goldberg and Tuvia Rüebner’s Republic of Letters.” Naharaim 10.1 (2016): 127–149.

  DOI: 10.1515/naha-2016-0007

  This article focuses on the correspondence (1949–1969) between Goldberg and Rüebner. The letters shed light on the position of the two poets as European artists and raises questions about the preservation of the values of German culture amid the multicultural milieu of the State of Israel.

• Ticotsky, Giddon, ed. Uly rak tzipore masa: Lea Goldberg ve Tuvia Ruebner Correspondence. Bene Beraq, Israel: Hakibbutz Hameuchad Sifriat Poalim, 2016.

  In Hebrew. Translated as: “One hundred and three letters exchanged between Lea Goldberg (80 letters) and Tuvia Ruebner (16) and other members of his family (7), accompanied by photos, post cards and drawings, and with a scholarly homage to this friendship written by the editor.

• Ticotsky, Giddon, and Yifaat Wisse, eds. Ne’arot Ivriyot: Mikteve Leah Goldberg min haProvintsyah, 1923–1935. Bene Beraq, Israel: Sifriat Poalim, 2009.

  In Hebrew. Translated as: “Hebrew youth: Lea Goldberg’s letters from the province, 1923–1935.” The letters written by Lea Goldberg to a childhood friend, Mina Landoy, are an essential complementary information to several chapters of her biography: Family vacations outside of Kaunas, the years spent in Berlin and Bonn, a short experience as a teacher in Lithuania, and first impressions from Palestine.

• Weiss, Yfaat. “‘Nothing in My Life Has Been Lost’: Lea Goldberg Revisits Her German Experience.” Leo Baeck Institute Year Book 54.1 (2009): 357–377.

  DOI: 10.1093/leobaeck/ybp010

  Based on the correspondence between Lea Goldberg and Ilsabe Hunke von Podewils, whose friendship was broken off in the early 1930s and renewed thirty years later, this article examines Goldberg’s attitudes toward Germany and sheds light on aspects of her literary oeuvre.

• Wisse, Ifaat. Nesiah uNesi’ah medumah: Lea Goldberg beGermanyah. Jerusalem: Merkas Zalman Shazar leHeker toldot ha’Am haYehudy, 2014.

  In Hebrew. Translated as: “Lea Goldberg in Germany, 1930–1933.” A detailed exploration of Lea Goldberg’s short academic, artistic, political, social, and emotional experience in Germany, where she completed her PhD in Semitic languages, immersed herself in German language and culture, and witnessed the rise of Nazism.

• Yablokovsky, Y. Hekal SheShaka: HaHinuk Ha’Ivri BeKovnah; Mosadot veIshim. Tel Aviv: Irgun Bogre HaGimnasya HaIvrit BeKovna, 1962.

  In Hebrew. Translated as: “Hebrew education in Kaunas: Institutions and people.” A reaccount of experiences at the Hebrew gymnasium in Kaunas, Lithuania, Goldberg’s memories are mostly devoted to one of her teachers, Moshe Frank, who introduced her to the book of Kohelet and to the poetry of Shlomo Ibn Gabirol. See p. 226.

• Yoffe, A. B. Lea Goldberg: Tave demut veYetzirah. Tel Aviv: Reshafim, 1994.

  In Hebrew. Translated as: “Lea Goldberg: An appreciation of the poet and her work.” In a chapter devoted to “The Beginning of Her Path” (pp. 9–25), Yoffe focuses on Goldberg’s childhood in Kaunas and the traumatic expulsion to Russia during the First World War, the Hebrew gymnasium of Kaunas, and her association with a local Jewish-Lithuanian poetical school.