Yossel Birstein
Yossel Birstein immigrated to Australia as a teenager and served in that country’s military during World War II. After the war, he learned that his family in Europe had been murdered in the Holocaust. With his wife, Margaret, he moved to Israel in 1950. For many years he worked as a shepherd in Kibbutz Gvat. In 1970, he moved to Jerusalem and served as an archivist at the National Library. Birstein published numerous books of poetry, short stories, novels, and translations in both Yiddish and Hebrew during his lengthy career.
Arts and Culture
A Night During the Gulf War
Yossel Birstein (1920-2003) was a significant talent, “on par with Kafka and Agnon,” according to critic Menachem Perry. Birstein’s wanderings, and his ideological convictions cut through with irony, make him an intriguing symbol of the vagaries of modern Jewish life.
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