| Rachel (poet) |
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=Biography= Rachel was born in Russia in September 20 , 1890 , as the elevnth daughter of Isser-Leib and Sophia Blubstein, and granddaughter of the Rabbi of the Jewish community in Kiev . During her childhood, her family moved to the Ukraine , where she studied in a Jewish school and, later, in a secular highschool. She began writing poetry at the age of 15. When she was 17, she moved to Kiev and began studying painting. At the age of 19, she visited the Ottoman province of Palestine with her sister. The two were en route to Italy , where they were to study art and philosophy, but decided to perform Aliyah and stay with the small Jewish settlement in Palestine. They settled in the Moshava Rehovot and worked in its orchards; during this time, Rachel learned to speak Hebrew. Wanting to work as a farmer, Rachel moved to the village Kinneret , where she studied and worked in a women's agricultural school. In Kinneret, she met the Zionist leader Aharon David Gordon , who greatly influenced her, and for whom she dedicated her first Hebrew song. During this time, she also met and had an affair with Zalman Rubshov, who later became known as Zalman Shazar and was the third president of the State of Israel . In 1913 , she left the country to continue her agricultural studies, and studied Agricultural Science in Toulouse , France . However, after completing her studies she could not return to Palestine because of World War I ; instead, she moved to Russia, where she taught Jewish refugees until the war ended. Following the end of the war, she returned to the British Mandate Of Palestine and joined the small agricultural Kibbutz Degania , by the Sea Of Galilee . However, shortly after her arrival she was diagnosed with Tuberculosis , then an uncurable disease, and was immediately expelled from Degania to avoid contagion. She spent the rest of her life travelling and living in Safed , Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv , and finally settled in a sanatorium for tuberculosis patients in Gedera . Rachel died on April 16, 1931, at the age of 41, in the Hadassa hospital in Tel-Aviv. She is buried on the shore of the Sea Of Galilee , following her wishes, as expressed in her poem ''If Fate Decrees''. =Poetry= Rachel began writing in Russian as a youth, but the majority of her work was written in Hebrew. Most of her poems were published on a weekly basis in the Hebrew newspaper Davar , and quickly became popular with the Jewish community in Palestine. Many of her poems echo her feelings of longing and loss, a result of her inability to realize her aspirations in life. In several poems she mourns the fact that she will never have a son to hug. Her writing is influenced by French imagism, Biblical stories, and the literature of the Second Aliyah pioneers. Rachel is considered one of the most popular and important Hebrew poets. Music was written for several of her poems, some of which are popular among Israeli singers to this day. Her poems are a part of the Hebrew culture, and are part of the mandatory curriculum in Israeli schools. Some of her poems were translated to English and published under the title ''Flowers of Perhaps: Selected Poems of Rahel'', by the London publisher Menard. =More Information=
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