Hundreds Attend Funeral of Abraham David Shlonsky

Abraham David Shlonsky, Israel’s leading poet and translator of many of the world’s classics was buried today in the writers section of the Kiryat Shaul cemetery here. His funeral was attended by President Zalman Shazar, Cabinet ministers, Knesset members and several hundred writers, poets, teachers and students. Earlier his coffin was placed in the front hall of the Tel Aviv municipality where hundreds of people filed past in a final tribute.

Mr. Shlonsky, who died at his Tel Aviv home Friday at the age of 73, was eulogized by Deputy Premier Yigal Allon as “the godfather of modern Israeli literature.” Born in Kariukov, Russia, the scion of a famous Hasidic dynasty, he retained both the learning and lore of his ancestors throughout his life. His secular education began in Russia and continued in France and Palestine, Mr. Shlonsky arrived in Palestine after the Russian Revolution and worked as a manual laborer like other olim of his generation. But he continued to write and eventually settled down as a full-time poet and man of letters.

Mr. Shlonsky became the leading Hebrew poet of the post-Bialik generation and contributed to the development of the modern Hebrew language. He translated the works of Shakespeare, Moliere, Gogol, Pushkin, Tolstoy and Brecht into Hebrew and wrote Hebrew poetry that on occasion spoke for all Israelis on matters of conscience. His lament for the martyrs of the Holocaust is carved on the walls of the Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.

For many years he was a member of Mapam and involved in its Kibbutz Artzi movement. He was also close to Hashomer Hatzair and contributed to its publications. Mr. Shlonsky was a member of the Hebrew Academy and headed the Israel Writers Association. Among his most famous poems are “Deval” (Pain), “Avneh Bohu” (Bleak Rocks), “Shirei Haprozdor Haaroch” (Songs of the Long Passage), and numerous children’s poems which are considered fables for adults.