Rikuda Potash ( he, רִיקוּדָה פּוֹטַש; ; 1906 – 15 May 1965) was a Polish-born Israeli

Yiddish language Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...

poet and short story writer.

Sholem Asch Sholem Asch ( yi, שלום אַש, pl, Szalom Asz; 1 November 1880 – 10 July 1957), also written Shalom Ash, was a Polish-Jewish novelist, dramatist, and essayist in the Yiddish language who settled in the United States. Life and work Asch ...

called her "the Poetess of

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

Biography

Potash was born in

Ojców Ojców is a village in Gmina Skała, in Kraków County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship Lesser Poland Voivodeship or Lesser Poland Province (in pl, województwo małopolskie ), also known as Małopolska, is a voivodeship (province), in southern Po ...

. Her father Yekutiel Potash was a correspondent for the Yiddish newspaper '' Unzer Lebn''. Her brother Mordekhai Narkiss (1898–1957) later became director of the

Bezalel Museum In Book of Exodus, Exodus 31:1-6 and chapters 36 to 39, Bezalel, Bezaleel, or Betzalel ( he, בְּצַלְאֵל, ''Bəṣalʼēl''), was the chief artisan of the Tabernacle and was in charge of building the Ark of the Covenant, assisted by Oh ...

. Potash's early work was written and published in

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

, but following the Lwów pogrom of 1918 she turned to Yiddish. Beginning in 1922 she published a variety of works in Yiddish, including nature poetry, short stories, children's stories, and translations of Polish works. In 1924, she moved to

Łódź Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of cant ...

, which at the time had the Poland's second-largest population of Jews and was a center of

modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

experimentation. She married poet Khayim-Leyb Fuks and they had a daughter, Avivit, in 1926. She first came to widespread attention after the inclusion of four of her poems in Ezra Korman's ''Yidishe dikhterins: antologye'' ("Yiddish Women Poets: Anthology", 1928). Her first collection of poetry, ''Vint oyf klavishn'' ("Wind on Keys"), was published in Łódź in 1934. The title refers to the lyre of King David, which, according to ''Berakhot'', hung over his bed and played by itself when the wind blew across it. In 1934, she divorced Fuks and emigrated with Avivit to Jerusalem, where she worked as librarian for the Bezalel Art School and Museum for the rest of her life. She published two more volumes of poetry, ''Fun Kidron Tol'' (1952) and ''Moled iber Timma'' (1959). Two more books were published posthumously, ''Lider'' ("Poems", 1967) and ''Geslekh fun Yerusholayim'' ("In the Alleys of Jerusalem", 1968), the latter her only collection of prose, stories about

Mizrahi ''Mizrachi'' or ''Mizrahi'' ( he, מזרחי) has two meanings. In the literal Hebrew meaning ''Eastern'', it may refer to: *Mizrahi Jews, Jews from the Middle East * Mizrahi (surname), a Sephardic surname, given to Jews who got to the Iberian ...

immigrants to Israel and their children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Potash, Rikuda 1906 births 1965 deaths Yiddish-language poets People from Ojców Polish librarians Polish women librarians Israeli librarians Israeli women librarians 20th-century Polish poets 20th-century Israeli poets 20th-century Polish women writers 20th-century Israeli women writers 20th-century Israeli writers Polish women poets Israeli women poets