Haim Be'er

Haim Be'er (Hebrew: חיים באר; b. 9 February 1945) is an Israeli novelist.

Haim Be'er
Native name	חיים באר
Born	(1945-02-09) February 9, 1945 Jerusalem
Occupation	novelist
Language	Hebrew
Nationality	Israeli
Period	1963-Today
Notable works	Feathers The Pure Element of Time
Notable awards	Bernstein Prize (1980) Bialik Prize (2002) Prime Minister's Prize for Hebrew Literary Works (2013) The Agnon Prize for the Art of Prose (2017)

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. From 1963 to 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).
• El Makom Sheharuah Holekh ("To Where the Wind Goes") (2010).
• Halomoteihem he-Hadashim ("Their new dreams") (2014).
• Be-Hazara me-Emek Refa'im ("Back from Emek Refa'im") (2018).
• Masa Dilugim ("Skipping trip") (2019).
• Tzel yado ("The shadow of his hand") (2021).

President Isaac Herzog at a meeting with Haim Be'er, June 2022.

Awards (selection)

• 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).
• Prime Minister's Prize for Hebrew Literary Works, for poetry (2013).

• The Ramat Gan Prize for Literature in the field of prose, for his book El Makom SheHaRuach Holekh (2013).
• The Agnon Prize for the Art of Prose (2017).
• Honorary Doctorate from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2022).

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