KENAANI, DAVID

KENAANI, DAVID (1912–1982), Hebrew essayist and editor. Born in Warsaw, Kenaani was an active member of Ha-Shomer ha-Ẓa'ir. He settled in Ereẓ Israel in 1934 and joined kibbutz Merḥavyah. He began his literary career in the journal Ha-Shomer ha-Ẓa'ir in Warsaw in 1932, and wrote extensively on social and literary subjects in the Israel press from a left socialist-Zionist point of view. His books include: Le-Nogah Eẓ Rakav, an examination of U.Z. Greenberg's poetry (1950); Beinam le-Vein Zemannam, essays on modern Hebrew literature (1955); and Battei Middot, essays on communal life (1960). He edited, among other publications, a historical atlas (1954); an anthology of Hebrew and Yiddish literature in the past 100 years (1954); an anthology on Soviet Jewry (with A. Shimri, 1957), and the Hebrew edition of zinberg 's History of Jewish Literature (6 vols., 1955–60). He was principal editor of an encyclopedia of the social sciences Enẓiklopedyah le-Madda'ei ha-Ḥevrah (5 vols., 1962–70). -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kressel, Leksikon, 2 (1967), 142. (Getzel Kressel)