Matityahou Shelem

Matityahou Shelem was born in 1904 in Hrubieszów

Shelem was born Matityahou Weiner in Hrubieszów, then in the Russian Empire, to Shalom and Etel Weiner. In 1908 the family moved to Zamość, where his father ran the Hebrew school Kadima and Matityahou studied. He spoke Hebrew with his father and wrote poems as a child.

During World War I the family fled to Ukraine and later returned to Zamość. There he led a Hashomer Hatzair group and worked in a printing shop. In 1922 he joined a HeHalutz group doing farm work to prepare for immigration, and wrote songs for it.

He immigrated to the Land of Israel in 1922. He worked at Mes'ha alongside Arab workers and then helped build the Jordan River bridge at Naharayim, where he learned Arabic and Bedouin and fellah melodies.

In 1927 he moved to Kibbutz Beit Alpha, where his future wife Tova Singerman lived, and in 1928 he became a shepherd. This work led to his first festival pageant, the sheep shearing festival. In 1940, after the kibbutz split, he moved to Ramat Yohanan.

At Ramat Yohanan he kept herding and creating songs and festivals. In 1944 he trained as a teacher in Jerusalem and studied music with Shlomo Rosowsky. He wrote plays with songs and staged them with youth group students. He died in 1975.