SMOLI (formerly Smoler), ELIEZER

SMOLI (formerly Smoler), ELIEZER (1901–1985), Hebrew writer. Born in Volhynia, Smoli immigrated to Palestine in 1920 with a group of pioneers, and graduated from a teachers' seminary in Jerusalem (1923). From 1948 he was supervisor of schools for the Sharon region. Smoli was encouraged by asher barash to write fiction instead of poetry, and his stories were published in the daily Davar and in Davar li-Yladim. His books, which manifest his love for the land and for the early pioneers, were the first of their kind. Notable among them is Anshei Bereshit (1933; 19637); an English translation entitled Frontiersmen of Israel appeared in 1964. Smoli also wrote Or ba-Galil (1939; 19567); Bein Sheki'ah li-Zeriḥah (1946); Bein Ḥermon ve-Gilbo'a (1946; Between the Hermon and Gilboa, 1946); Yafah at Arẓenu (1948; 19635); Laylah ba-Mishlat (1951); Olam ha-Ḥayyot (1952); and several works on plant and animal life in Israel. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kressel, Leksikon, 2 (1967), 945. (Getzel Kressel)