Rachel+the+Poet+(2)

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= =  RACHEL THE POET



BY: SHIRA CARMELI NEVE HANA, 2013

=** Rationale **=

I chose to write about Rachel the poet because I love her poems. We have her poem books in our house and I also heard some of her songs back in my childhood. She takes a big part in my family's life, like many other artists. As much as I read more of her poems I was more interested to do research about her life. From her poems I thought that she must have been through a difficult life because most of her poems describe longing to a far place and willing for something that would never come… I wanted to know what she has been through.

=** ID CARD **=

__Full name__: Rachel Blubshtain Sela __Parents’ Names__:Sophia and Isser-Leib __Birth date__: September 20, 1890 __Year of death__: 1931 __Where Born__: Russia, Seratov __Work__: at Russia-as a teacher, At Israel she worked the ground-agriculture __Location__: lived in Israel __Profession__: writing poems __What she is famous for__: Rachel is known for her songwriting talent

= ** Interview ** =

__Where and when did you born?__ I was born in September 20, 1890 in Saratov in Russia. __Please describe your childhood:__ I am the 11 daughter to my parents, Isser-Leyb and Sofia Blubshtain. I grew up in a traditional Jewish home. My grandfather was the rabbi of the Kiev community. During my childhood my mother past away and my father remarried. After a while we moved to Poltava, there I started my studies in the Jewish school in the city. After my studies I started to learn in the RussianGymnasium. __What are you doing in your spare time?__ I really like reading, so I read a lot and books where a big part of my life. When I was 15 I started to write songs in Russian, and I have learned RussianLiterature. Since I was little I loved painting, and when I finished my studies in Poltava I moved to Kiev toexpandmy knowledgeon the subject. __When did you immigrate to Israel?__ In 1909. Two years after my painting studies, when I where 19, I moved to Israel with my big sister-Shoshanna. When we got here we settled in Rehovot, a small colony at the time. __Why did you decided to make 'aliyah'?__ My uncle and my brother were involved in the Zionist movement since I was little, so I grew up with the filing that Israel was the most important thing and I felt it all the time around me. My brother was a significant figure in Tel-Aviv, and he was the founder of 'Beit Haam'. My sister and I came to Israel for a short trip, to see Israel and to check what it was like to live here. We wanted to travel in Israel for a while and then to come back to Russia, but we fell in here charm and we just couldn't leave, so we stayed. __How did you felt about your 'aliyah' and the land of Israel?__ I felt strong connection. I couldn't believe that I really here, I was amazed by the beauty of the places, the People who wantedto sacrificetheir lives for thiscountry and I wanted to be one of them. __When did you started to write poems?__ I started writing when I was 15, when my home was still in Russia, then I knew only Russian so my song were in the Russian language, but since I came to Israel I stopped talking Russian because I wanted to learn Hebrew. I walked to a kindergarten to listen to the language. I have learned from the bible for the first time. I also learned from Yehuda Teller, a Hebrew teacher. Slowly I started to get used to the language and after a while I started to write poems in Hebrew. __What gave you the Inspiration to your poems?__ I took inspire from the beautiful land, from the kinnereth, from the view around me and the breathless things that I sow. I wrote about myself and my life. Many songs were written to my closes friends, people that I loved andvalued. My hart spilled into the empty paper. __Why did you leave the country after a while?__ I was in Israel for a long time, I have learned her and her language, I was connected to people and I have worked the land. But-I didn’t know the land working in a Professional way, and I wanted to learn more about it, so I decided to go to Tuluz university that in France, learnAgronomics, and then-to come back to Israel, continuo with my life and the land working. The years in Tuluz where hard, full with studies and missing my friends that stayed in Israel. The First WorldWarbroke outin 1914, and I couldn't come back. At the time I worked as a teacher in a Refugees Jewish school in Russia. The job was hard and included sicknesses and hunger. All of this time I dreamed about coming back to Israel, to my life that I left behind. __What wasyour aspiration in Israel?__ Myaspiration was to create, to change. To work the land as a way of life. To live a working life, filled with meaning with my friends here in Israel. When I got back from Russia in 1919 in the ship 'Ruslan' that was the first ship that was permitted to sail, I wanted to get back to the work immediately as I used to do in the past, bat the hunger and the sicknesses made my body wick. The sicknesses made a huge damage to my body and all of my dreams about working at Israel land where gone as they came.

=** biography **=

Rachel Blubshtain sela was born in September 20, 1890 in Saratov, in Russia. She grew up in a traditional Jewish home. She was the eleventh daughter in here family. Her parents were called Isser-Leib and Sofia Blowstain. Her mother, Sofia, has died during her childhood and her father-Isser-Leib remarried. After a while they moved to Poltava, there she learned in the Jewish school in the area, and a few years later-in the gymnasia. Her grandfather was the rabbi of Kiev community and her uncle and brother were Zionists that worked a lot for Israel. Because of the connection to the religion and the connection to Israel itself, Rachel always felt that she wanted to visit in Israel. When she was 19, she has made 'aliyah' to Israel with her sister Shoshanna. At first they wanted to come to Israel only for a short visit but they discovered that it almost impassible to leave such a lovely country. Rachel fell in the country charm and settled in Rehovot. Rachel wanted to work the land, so in 1911 she moved to 'Havat Haalamot' that in Cineret farm. At 1913 Rachel decided to learn more about working the land, about Agriculture, so she left Israel and went to Tuluz university, that in France-to learn Agronomics Since she was young she had written. When she got to Israel she learned Hebrew and she started writing her poems in Hebrew. She wrote about her feelings, her experiences, her wills. She wrote about Israel's view and the special pleases that she saw. But now, when she was far away, she wrote about her longing. She missed her friend, she missed her country. Those years where tuff for her .more than everything She finished her studies, she was ready to go home, but in 1914 the First World War started and Rachel couldn't come back to Israel. At the time she worked as a teacher in a Refugees Jewish school in Russia. The job was hard and included sicknesses and hunger. All of this time she dreamed about coming back to Israel, to her life that she left behind. In 1919 Rachel came back to Israel in a ship cold 'Ruslan', and settled in Dganya. After a while the 'Shahefet' disease, that was [at the time] incurable, has been discovered on Rachel. Her doctor said that she will have to eat in separate tools, and after a while she forced to move from Dganya. During her last years, Rachel's life was hard and difficult. She lived alone with her sickness, and moved recently, from Tzfat and Tel Aviv, to Jerusalem. At her last days she was in Dganya's hospital. She died in April 16, 1931, when she was only 41. She was buried in Cineret, and her song-'mineged' is written on her gravestone.

=** speech **=

Hello, my name is Inningo Montoya, I am the founder of 'the charm'. The idea of this Organization started years ago, when my father was young. My father-Simha, from the moment he learned to read, had a unique love to poems. He always wanted to do something more with his life, he wanted to create an organization for people, organization that will let people the place and the ability to write. He wanted to expose them to a new world, world that has in it magic and charm. From all of the poets, my father loved Rachel Bluwshtein the most. Every time when he read from her books, he sank in it in peace, so focused he was. But my father's dream was shattered. One day, when my father went to the grocery, a robber came and demanded money. My father tried to stop him, and the robber shot him. The bullet killed him immediately. My father didn’t filled his dream, But I took on myself to do that myself. 'I will create this organization!', I said. And here I am, 25 years later, standing in front of you, telling you the history of this place Rachel the poet was a very unique person. This organization, this school, is based on her way of life, the same way that my father walked in, the same way that he wanted us to go through. Rachel was born in Russia in 1890. She grew up in a traditional Jewish home with her 10 brothers and sisters. Since she was little she loved to write. When she became 19 she made 'Aliyah' to Israel with her sister Shoshanna and she decided to settle there. She started to work the land, she worked hard and she fell in the charm of the country. As time went on she became used and familiar with the language, and she started to write songs in Hebrew. It was tuff, but her will pushed her forward and take her to a wonderful places. After a while, she decided to go to France, to learn more about the land working in a professional way, and then to came back to Israel, and back to working the land. The first world wore had started, so Rachel couldn't get back to Israel. she heeded to Russia and worked there as a teacher. Rachel got back to Israel on a ship and she wanted to work the land as she has done before, bat the sicknesses in Russia made damage to her body, damage that blocked her from living her dream. She wrote a lot of poems in her life, about herself, her life, about Israel and her friends. Rachel died in 1931. This school is for them, to remember my father, to remember Rachel the poet, to remember their way. The school is open to all, the program included the regular steadies and also a poetry path. This is my way, and the way of all the people that beside me-to live, without giving up, with a lot of will to change, to create. To expose the good in the world that is shining from are soles. Poems are the reflection of life; we have to pay attention to it! [Inningo Montoya, founder and director of 'the charm' school]

=** reflection **=

I wanted to do my project about Rachel Blubshtain because of the fantastic poems that she wrote. I feel that she wrote them in a deferent way then everyone else does, and the way that she wrote makes me wonder about the way that she lived her life. I started my research on Rachel the poet by reading from different sources and I was amazed by what Rachel had done in her life. She immigrated to Israel when she where only 19! She wanted to work the Israel land's so badly that she would give everything for it! Her life was built with the understanding that there is a community and a lot of people around and her will was to do what is best for everyone, by this attitude she made the world into a better place. I love the way that Rachel expresses her feelings, I agree with her Zionist spirit and I admire her courage, which was revealed in every part and decision in her life. This project exposed me to a much intensive knowing with the English language. It also helped me discover things, such as Rachel's life and acts, which I wouldn't discover in any other way. During the project [and other assignment that I have done], I had to struggle with myself to keep working and to not back down and stop doing it, and I went through a process which in I have learnt about responsibility and persistence, and I am thankful for that.

=** Bibliography **=

America Zionist Movement. (No date).//Rachel the Poet. Retrieved from [|http://www.azm.org/rachel-the-poet/#wrap]//

Bar, Amos. __Hameshoreret mikinnereth__. Tel Aviv: am oved, 1993.

Pnichel, Abba, editor. __Shirat Rachel__. Tel Aviv: davar, 1999.

Rachel the poet, (October 23rd 2004).in Wikipedia,from []