Moshe Shamir

Moshe Shamir (Hebrew: משה שמיר; 15 September 1921 – 20 August 2004) was an Israeli author, playwright, opinion writer, and public figure. He was the author of a play that was later based on an Israeli film called He Walked Through the Fields.¹

Biography

Shamir was born in Safed. He went to the Tel Nordau School and graduated from the Herzliya Hebrew High School in Tel Aviv.

In the 1948 Arab–Israeli War he served in Palmach. He began his political career as a member of the movement Hashomer Hatzair, in which he filled a leadership role. He was one of the editors of their official newspaper Al Ha-Homa from 1939 to 1941. From 1944 to 1946 he was a member of kibbutz Mishmar HaEmek. He was the founder and editor of the Israel Defense Forces official newspaper Bamahane ("In the Camp") from 1947 to 1950. During the 1950s he was a member of the editorial board of the newspaper Maariv and the editor of its literature section.

Literary and journalism career

At an early age, Shamir began writing stories. They attracted interest immediately, and not solely due to his writing ability. He was always engaged with political problems, always arousing opposition. The first opposition came from Meir Ya'ari, leader of the left-wing movement to which Shamir belonged, concerning what was perceived as "ideological aberration" in his stories. In hindsight it is difficult to understand what the fuss was about. The stories seem completely innocent and certainly are not hostile or injurious to the kibbutz movement. However, the anger that was aroused against Shamir was so strong that he decided to leave his kibbutz in 1947 for ideological reasons.

Shamir's first story, appearing in print in 1940, dealt with Abraham and the binding of Isaac. The story was published in the youth movement newspaper . In his 1947 novel , which became the first play performed in the established State of Israel, the hero is a native-born Israeli, a "Sabra". The book won the Prize. It was adapted as a directed by Yosef Millo, who also directed its theatrical debut. In 1947, he became the chief editor of the (later ) newspaper . He edited it until he was dismissed at the request of for publishing an article about a celebration of the disbanding of . Thereafter he continually aroused scandals, more than any other Hebrew author of that time.