Yossel Birstein

Yossel Birstein was born in 1920 in Biała Podlaska

Yossel Birstein was born in 1920 in the Polish town of Biała Podlaska, which often appears in his books. He studied in a cheder and was a member of Hashomer Hatzair. In 1937 he emigrated alone to Australia, and his family was killed in the Holocaust.

During World War II he served in the Australian army alongside the painter Yosl Bergner. He married Margaret Weisberg in 1941, and they had 2 daughters. After the war he edited a monthly for Jewish youth.

In 1950 he and his wife moved to Israel and settled at Kibbutz Gvat, where he worked as a shepherd for 11 years. He later worked at Bank Hapoalim, rising to head of an investment department, and in 1982 moved to Jerusalem. He also worked at the National Library and told stories on Galei Tzahal and across the country.

His first Yiddish poetry collection appeared in Melbourne in 1949, and he later turned to prose. His first book, on kibbutz life, came out in Yiddish in 1958 and in Hebrew in 1959. His last novel appeared in 1995, and he died in Jerusalem in 2003.