Hebrew poet. Together with Chaim N. Bialik, he was one of the two leading modern Hebrew poets. Tschernichowsky’s education did not include Talmudic training, but the Bible left a deep impression upon him, as did Greek philosophy and culture. He became a practicing physician in St. Petersburg and continued this work after he settled in Palestine.

Tschernichowsky’s poetry is distinguished by a vigorous sense of beauty and a closeness to nature. His idylls, or pastoral poems, possess wonderful charm and humor. They reflect the wholesome and happier phases of Eastern European Jewish traditional life. His sonnets are works of art, skillfully designed and executed.

Tschernichowsky identified himself with the Jewish national revival. He wrote some of his first poems on the Palestine landscape and its historical themes. In addition to his original works, he made a great contribution to Hebrew letters by outstanding translations of Homer, Sophocles, Shakespeare, Goethe, Longfellow (Evangeline and Hiawatha), and many other great writers.