Mirsky, Aaron

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MIRSKY, AARON

MIRSKY, AARON (1914–2001), Hebrew writer. Born in Novogrodek, Poland, he was ordained as a rabbi and immigrated to Ereẓ Israel in 1935. He was an editor at the Mosad Bialik publishing house (1950–60), and from 1952 taught Hebrew literature at The Hebrew University (professor, 1965). He published studies on ancient and medieval Hebrew poetry and on the Hebrew language. His books include Yalkut ha-Piyyutim (1958), an annotated anthology of medieval Hebrew religious poetry; Shirei Yiẓḥak Ibn Ḥalfon (1961), with an introduction and textual variants; Reshit ha-Piyyut (1965); and volumes of his own poetry, Alei Si'aḥ (1966), Sefer ha-Gai ve-ha-Kaddish (1986), and Din ha-Shir (1994). Among his other works are Ha-Pisuk shel ha-Signon ha-Ivri (1978), a study of the piyyut tradition in the Diaspora and in Ereẓ Israel (1990) as well as a book on Hebrew style (Signon Ivri, 1999). A bibliography of his works was published in 1986.

[Getzel Kressel]