Yitzhak Orpaz (, ; 15 October 1921 – 14 August 2015) was an Israeli writer.

Biography

Yitzhak Orpaz was born in

Zinkiv Zinkiv (, ; ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city on the Tashan River in the Poltava Oblast in central Ukraine. The city was previously the administrative center of the Zinkiv Raion until 2020, when it became part of the Poltava Raion. It hosts ...

Soviet Ukraine The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. Under the Soviet one-party m ...

. He immigrated to

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...

at the age of 17. In 1942, Orpaz found out that his parents and sister had all died in

the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

. Afterwards, he enlisted in the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

and served in the

Jewish Brigade The Jewish Infantry Brigade Group, more commonly known as the Jewish Brigade Group or Jewish Brigade, was a military formation of the British Army in the World War II, Second World War. It was formed in late 1944 and was recruited among Yishuv, Y ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. After returning to British Palestine, he shortly worked as a diamond polisher before returning to the battlefield, this time in the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

during the

1947–1949 Palestine war The 1948 Palestine war was fought in the territory of what had been, at the start of the war, British-ruled Mandatory Palestine. During the war, the British withdrew from Palestine, Zionism, Zionist forces conquered territory and established ...

. After the war he served in the regular army. He studied philosophy and Hebrew literature at

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...

. In 1949, he published his first story in the military journal ''Ba-Mahaneh''. During readings of the story on the radio, he was asked to

Hebraize Hebraization may refer to: *Hebraization of Palestinian place names *Hebraization of surnames *Hebraization of English The Hebraization of English (or Hebraicization) is the use of the Hebrew alphabet to write English. Because Hebrew uses an a ...

his name, and he changed his last name from "Averbuch" to "Orpaz". His first book ''Wild Grass'' was published in 1959. As part of his process of "returning to the roots", Orpaz re-adopted the original surname of Averbuch, previously abandoned by his family for the sake of "Israeliness".

Awards

Orpaz has received the following awards: * Asher Barash Prize (1962) * Miriam Talpir Prize (1969) * Fichman Prize (1975) * Prime Minister's Prize (1976, 1999, 2004) * Israel Efrat Award (1985) *

Bialik Prize The Bialik Prize is an annual literary award given by the municipality of Tel Aviv, Israel, for significant accomplishments in Hebrew literature. The prize is named in memory of Israel's national poet Hayyim Nahman Bialik. There are two separate p ...

(1986) * Neuman Prize (1997) * President's Prize for Lifetime Achievement (1999) * In 2005, Orpaz was awarded the

Israel Prize The Israel Prize (; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History Prior to the Israel Prize, the most significant award in the arts was the Dizengoff Prize and in Israel ...

for literature.

References

External links

Yitzhak Orpaz
bibliography at the Institute for Translation of Hebrew Literature.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Orpaz, Yitshak 1923 births 2015 deaths Jews from Mandatory Palestine Soviet Jews Jewish Israeli writers Soviet emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Israeli military personnel of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War Israel Prize in literature recipients Tel Aviv University alumni Israeli novelists International Writing Program alumni Jewish Brigade personnel Recipients of Prime Minister's Prize for Hebrew Literary Works People from Khmelnytskyi Oblast Bialik Prize recipients

Biography

Awards

See also

References

External links