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RACHEL (1890-1931).

Pen name of Rachel Bluvstein, Hebrew poet. Few modern Hebrew poems have captured the hearts of the readers as Rachel. Her poetry is simple and sincere, yet it captures the spirit of Israel and expresses universal verities.

When Rachel came to Palestine from Russia at age 19, she worked as a farmhand at kibbutz Kinneret in the Galilee. When she arrived, she did not know a word of Hebrew or Yiddish, yet she mastered the Hebrew language. In 1913 she went to Europe to study agriculture and contracted tuberculosis. She returned to Palestine when World War I ended, but her illness disabled her for life. No longer able to till the land, her longing and loneliness poured out in such poems as the well-loved Veulai (Perhaps).

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