Asher Barash

Asher Barash was born in 1889 in Lopatin

Asher Barash was born in 1889 in Lopatyn, in eastern Galicia. His father, Naftali Herts Barash, was a grain merchant from a family of rabbis. He studied at heder and bet midrash and also attended a Polish government school.

At 17 he moved to Lviv, where Hanoch Yalon became his mentor. He wrote in Hebrew and Yiddish and first published humorous poems and stories in Yiddish. His first Hebrew story, Tnaim, appeared in the journal HaShiloach.

He immigrated to the Land of Israel in 1914 and settled in Tel Aviv, where he married Olga Lipevsky. He earned his living as a teacher of Hebrew and German, including at the Herzliya Gymnasium. From 1922 he edited the literary journal Hedim with Ya'akov Rabinowitz.

He edited books for several publishers, including Mitzpeh and Mossad Bialik, and youth literature. He won the Bialik Prize for his novel Alien Love. He helped found the Hebrew Writers Association and was among the first 8 members chosen for the Academy of the Hebrew Language.

He conceived the idea for the Gnazim Institute, helped found it and served as its first chairman. The institute bears his name. He died in 1952 of a heart attack.