Haim Be'er

Haim Be'er (Hebrew: חיים באר), born on 9 February 1945, is an Israeli novelist.

Biography

Haim Rachlevsky (Be'er) was born in Jerusalem to an Orthodox Jewish family. He grew up in the Geula neighborhood, and attended Ma'aleh, a state religious high school. In 1963–1965 he served in the Israel Defense Forces in the army rabbinate, writing for the army newspaper Mahanayim. Concurrently he worked nights as a copy editor at the daily newspaper Davar.

In 1966, he began working at the Am Oved publishing house, first as a copyeditor and later as an editor and member of the editorial board. All his books have been published by Am Oved. For ten years, he wrote a weekly column called "Memoirs of a Bookworm" (Mi-zikhronoteha shel tolaat sefarim).

Be'er teaches Hebrew literature at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

Be'er's latest novel, El Makom Sheharuakh Holekh, ("Back from Heavenly Lake"; 2010), was inspired by a trek to Nepal and Tibet. Dedicated to the classic Yiddish writer Mendele Mocher Sforim, it is a mystical tale about a Hasidic rebbe from Bnei Brak who travels to Tibet.

Published works

• Sha`ashu`ei Yom Yom (Day to Day Delights, poems, 1970)
• Feathers (in English translation, 2004), originally Notzot (1979)
• Et ha-Zamir (The Time of Trimming, 1987)
• Gam Ahavatam Gam Sinatam - Bialik, Brenner, Agnon Ma`arakhot Yahasim (Their Love and Their Hate: Bialik, Brenner, Agnon, Relationships, biography, 1993)
• The Pure Element of Time (in English translation, 2003), originally Havalim (1998)
• Lifnei Hamakom ("Upon a Certain Place") (2007)

Awards (selection)

• Prime Minister's Prize for Hebrew Literary Works, for poetry (1979)
• Bernstein Prize, original Hebrew novel category (1980)
• Kugel Prize for literature, awarded by the Municipality of Holon (2000)
• Bialik Prize for literature, jointly with Maya Bejerano, Yoel Hoffman and Miriam Rut (2002)

See also

• List of Bialik Prize recipients

External links

• "Haim Be`er" at the Institute for Translation of Hebrew Literature. Retrieved November 23, 2005.
• Analysis of Be'er's literary style, Arnold Band - https://web.archive.org/web/20041019113219/http://www.ithl.org.il/interview1.html