DOVID TVERDOVSKI

DOVID TVERDOVSKI (1906-1968)

            He was born near Nikolaev, southern Russia.  After the Bolshevik Revolution, he lived in a Jewish collective farm near Nikolaev, later becoming a laborer there.  He joined the Zionist movement while young and was banished to Tiflis, Georgia by the Soviet authorities for seven years.  In 1931 he moved to Israel, worked for a time in a village, and later built homes in the colony of Raanana.  He debuted in print with a long story entitled “Zkhus-oves” (Accumulated merits of the ancestors), concerning contemporary Soviet life, in the journal Literarishe bleter (Literary leaves) (Warsaw) in 1932; he also wrote for: Nayvelt (New world), Davar (Word), and the anthology Erets-yisroel shriftn (Writings from the land of Israel) (Tel Aviv, 1937)—in which he published stories about the lives of Jewish farmers in the Soviet Union and in Israel.  His story “Zrie” (Seed)—published in Erets-yisroel shriftn, pp. 84-100—and his novella Erev peysekh (Passover eve)—published in Di goldene keyt (The golden chain) (Tel Aviv) 34 (1959)—excelled in their quiet tone and authenticity.  He lived Raanana, Israel, until his death.  In 1961 he received the Bimko Prize from the World Jewish Congress for his novella Erev peysekh.

Sources: Erets-yisroel shriftn (Writings from the land of Israel) (Tel Aviv, 1937), p. 217.

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