Yehuca Amichai was born in Germany in 1924.  His family left Germany for Palestine twelve years later after the rise of the Nazi regime.  In 1948, Amichai fought with the Israelis in the Arab-Israeli War and settled into Israel for the rest of his life.  He studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, publishing his first book of poetry “Now and In Other Days,” in 1955.

Amichai wrote in Hebrew, but his works have been widely translated.  Amichai was Poet-in-Residence at a number of prominent Universities around the world and won many awards throughout his life.  Widely considered to be the finest modern poet of Israel, Amichai died in 2000.